


Not Everything is Cinnamon and Sexual Confusion

by inkheart9459



Series: Insults [1]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-01 07:22:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 51,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4010935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkheart9459/pseuds/inkheart9459
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the stress of worlds, graduating, and finding a job all Beca really wants to do at the worlds after party is drink enough alcohol to loosen up and have some fun. Unfortunately, anywhere that Kommissar is, isn't exactly a relaxing place and the other woman has a habit of popping up out of nowhere. And of course she does, and of course Beca accidentally hits on her because she has a big mouth, and maybe this after party isn't going to be so relaxing after all. If Kommissar keeps popping up around Copenhagen, then maybe the trip as a whole won't be relaxing either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've fallen down the rabbit hole of this ship. No regrets, though. I'm going to try a new thing where the chapters will be shorter, but I'll update everyday. Don't know how successful I'll be, but you never know until you try. With that, enjoy guys.

The bass reverberated through her chest and Beca smiled as the Bellas all moved around her. She felt high off of winning. She hadn’t felt this way, not truly, since they won nationals in her freshman year. Standing off stage watching DSM perform she had thought they were sunk for sure, but they had done it. Emily smiled back at her, dancing with Benji in a way that was just shy of sickeningly cute. She was glad that it had worked out for the both of them.

Beca looked around for Jesse, but couldn’t find him. She sighed just a little bit, but didn’t let it get to her. He was probably just off getting drinks. It would be fine. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been there a lot lately, at least in person. He was still there for the late night phone calls and text sessions, but physically present, no. She understood that they had graduated and they both had to set up what was next in their lives, but she thought that that would mean they’d be together more planning.

She shook herself. This wasn’t the time for that. She was in Copenhagen surrounded by people from across the globe all dancing and having fun together. Tonight was for fun. She could deal with real life when they got back to the states. For now she would dance and half fun with her girls and all the acapella nerds around her.

A few songs passed and she felt her buzz waning. There was no way she could keep dancing like this around this many people if she wasn’t at least a little bit past tipsy. So much for the idea that Jesse was off getting drinks. Whatever. She was fully capable of getting her own drink. She tapped Chloe on the shoulder and motioned to the bar.

“I’m going to get a drink, you want anything?” She practically screamed over the music.

Chloe nodded and Beca gave her a thumbs up before turning around and ducking through the crowd. The music wasn’t as loud by the bar. Her ear drums gave a little sigh of relief. She loved how the music reverberated in her chest, but her ears didn’t quite appreciate it sometimes. She ought to start bringing ear plugs to these things. Ears were rather crucial to music producers.

A bar tender walked up to her. “What can I get you?”

“A Cosmo and a long island iced tea.” That’ll keep her nice and buzzed for a good long while. When the buzz wore off from that it would probably be time to go home. Beca smiled and thought of the nice quiet hotel room that awaited her at the end of the night.

The bartender set the two drinks in front of her and Beca thanked whatever deity there was up there that the planners of worlds had thought open bars were a good idea. She didn’t feel like dropping twenty bucks on cocktails. She nodded her thanks and picked up the glasses, turning only to almost run smack dab into another person.

Her head tilted back until she found a smug smile and a pair of beautiful slate blue eyes. The Kommissar, of course, Beca couldn’t seem to not run into the woman wherever she went. She swallowed and resisted chugging down half of the iced tea in her hand. And really, what was her name? Kommissar was a fucking title for gods sake. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask, but Kommissar cut her off.

“Well, well, little mouse, you have proved that you are very feisty indeed. Congratulations.” She reached out and lifted the Cosmo from Beca’s hand. “These drinks are not my favorite, but it will do.”

“It wasn’t meant for you. It was meant for Chloe,” Beca managed to splutter out and thank god she hadn’t complimented the other woman when she meant to insult her for once.

Kommissar just cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure, little mouse? I do not see this Chloe anywhere.”

“That’s because your awesomely toned body makes a better door than a window!” Beca could have slapped herself. This time she didn’t resist the urge to raise her glass to her lips and take a healthy drink. Maybe this would be less painful if she was drunker.

Kommisar turned around and watched all the Bellas dancing in the middle of the floor for a second before turning back and stepping towards Beca. “I see. There is nothing stopping you from getting another drink for your friend then, is there?” She sipped her drink and Beca couldn’t for the life of her pull her eyes away from painted red lips caressing the edge of the glass and watching liquid disappearing into a rather perfect mouth.

She gulped down some more alcohol. This wasn’t where she needed to be right now. She’d tortured herself all year over this girl and she was almost home free from having to deal with her anymore. It wasn’t fair that after almost twenty-two years the German woman was getting her to question everything she knew about herself. She wasn’t gay, she had a loving boyfriend, thank you very much. And besides, if she was going to switch teams it would be for Chloe. Especially after that experimenting comment back in the tent. It wouldn’t be this ascetically perfect, intimidating, witty, smug, intelligent person in front of her.

Kommissar lowered her glass and looked at Beca for a long moment before letting her eyes slip down Beca’s form slowly, taking everything in, missing nothing. Her body shivered without her permission. That was not the reaction she needed right now. She forced herself to turn around and ignore the eyes boring into her back, though where she felt the heat of Kommissar’s stare was more like her ass. But she wasn’t going to think about that. At all. Ever.

She flagged down the bartender again and ordered another Cosmo. If she thought ignoring the other woman would get her to leave, she was wrong. Kommissar was still there as the bartender placed the new drink in front of her and she turned. She would need to either nudge her aside or shove one of the dudes beside her out of the way and run screaming like a banshee, but that seemed like losing. She just stared down the German with a cocked eyebrow and a cocked hip.

Kommissar chuckled, a deep sound that reminded Beca of the way bass echoed through her, she could close enough to feel the vibrations. She swallowed hard as her heart started to speed up. Kommissar reached forward and touched the tip of Beca’s nose with the pad of her finger. It was chilled from the Cosmo she was holding and Beca’s breath hitched just slightly at the contact, feeling the warmth flow through her. No, it was just the alcohol starting to kick in, that was all.

“Little mouse, you are very feisty, but I believe you might overestimate just how fierce you really are. You are feisty in a cute way, not a scary one.” And yet she still moved aside and gestured for Beca to make her way back to her friends. “Thank you for the drink, perhaps we can dance together later?”

Beca shot off, not daring to give an answer to the question. She could practically feel Kommissar’s smug smile following her back to the group of Bella’s. She didn’t understand how one woman could get under her skin so damn easily, but Jesus all she needed to do was get through the night and it would be fine.

Chloe came up and grabbed her drink from Beca’s hand. She looked worriedly over Beca’s shoulder. “What was that all about? Was she being an ass to you?”

Beca shook her head. “Actually she congratulated us on winning. Other than that it was nothing really.” She took another gulp of her drink and noticed that she was almost out already, but there was no way she was going back to the bar now. She was just going to have to stick to the plan that when this drink started to wear off she would go back to the hotel, which really didn’t bother. More excuses were great.

Chloe nodded slowly shifting her eyes back to Beca. “Ok, if you say so, but if she is.”

Beca reached out and clumsily patted Chloe on the upper arm. “I would tell you. I know you guys have my back.”

Chloe sent her a huge smile as the next song started. She gasped and stood up straighter. “Oh, I love this song, come on.” She pulled Beca into the middle of the Bellas and they started to dance again.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Beca’s drink was gone, the Bellas started to trickle off. First it was Fat Amy disappearing with Bumper. God was she right at the beginning of the year, for someone who had graduated and supposedly gone away, he was harder to get rid of than some STD. She hadn’t even realized he was in Copenhagen. But if Amy was happy with him, then she was happy for her even if Beca thought he was a little too douchey to live. Then Emily was walking off with Benji to find some dark corner. Benji looked like he was about to pass out and Beca almost laughed. Oh Legacy was going to shock him to death she was sure. Beca allowed herself to laugh out loud, the alcohol flowing through her system now and making everything pleasantly hazy.

Then Cynthia Rose was off after a girl who looked a lot like Stacie, but was actually interested, Jessica and Ashley disappeared to the bathroom, and another small group begged off claiming exhaustion and went back to the hotel. Beca found herself alone on the dancefloor with Chloe, but the alcohol was still buzzing through her system and damn it was not going to waste a good buzz sitting in a hotel room so she kept dancing. Chloe was there and that was all she needed.

Until a girl that melted even Beca in her three inch heels came up and asked Chloe to dance. Chloe looked back at Beca with wide eyes, both asking if she should go with this girl and if it was ok. Beca, like the true friend she was, shoved her forward after whispering in her ear.

“Here’s that chance for experimenting, Clo.”

She saw Chloe blush before nodding at the girl in front of her. The girl had to be only an inch or two shorter than Kommissar. Beca stopped that through process as soon as it started. She didn’t need to think about her right now. Or really ever. Ever. Ever, ever, ever.

Why was she still thinking about her? She huffed out a breath and ran her hand through her hair. Nope, no more of this. There was good music playing, even if she couldn’t understand ninety percent of the lyrics the beat was nice. She could still dance alone. Nothing was stopping her and dancing would get her mind off of that other person she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about. Right, yeah, that was what she would do.

And just as she got back into the swing of things, dancing and losing herself in the music as she always did when she wasn’t trying to figure out what made a song tick, Kommissar was whispering in her ear.

“Where have all your friends gone, little mouse?”

Beca jumped and almost hit the guy who was dancing closest to her. She sent him an apologetic glance before whipping around to glare at Kommissar. “Jesus, you have got to stop popping up out of nowhere. How the hell do you even do that in four inch heels?”

Kommissar smirked at her. “It is a skill that takes a great deal of practice and coordination, something I’m not entirely sure you have outside of the dance floor.”

Beca stepped closer to the other woman, alcohol making her a little more reckless than normal. She poked Kommissar right on the breast bone, pushing her back just the tiniest bit. “Excuse you, I am very coordinated. How would you know, anyway? You’ve seen me like three times this entire year.”

“Just a feeling paired with how you wobble on those heels of yours.”

“I’m drunk, I’m supposed to wobble.” Beca scowled and didn’t remove her finger from Kommissar’s chest. She swallowed hard as she realized that her hand was scant centimeters away from two rather perfectly sized breasts. God, that so didn’t matter, but she pulled her hand away like it was on fire anyway.

“I think you’re just using that as an excuse.” The smirk intensified.

“I can prove you wrong!” As soon as she said it she stepped back and wobbled just a bit. She closed her eyes and had to stop herself from face palming. Why did she had to be wobbly right then? Why?

“Then dance with me, little mouse. If you can keep from falling on your face, perhaps I might believe you.” She leaned forward. “But I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Then why would I dance with you if I’m not proving my point?”

“Because I’m the only one here that you know. Who else would you dance with? Besides, it’s only polite to dance with me since I asked you earlier, ja?”

Beca warmed greatly at the slight slip into German. Jesus, foreign languages that sounded like angry shouting were not supposed to turn her on. Turn her on? The alcohol was totally getting to her right now. That had to be it.

And damn it if she wasn’t right. She was the only one here that she knew that wasn’t otherwise occupied. And she definitely felt more secure in social situations if there was someone she knew around. Stupid introvertedness it was really getting in her way right now. And she sort of had a point about the polite thing to. But she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to, damn it. She could just go back to the hotel and crawl into bed.

“Fine, you can dance with me.”

And Kommissar’s smirk turned into a real smile that was almost blinding. That smile made saying yes worth it in Beca’s book, but she wasn’t about to tell anyone that.

A new song started and Kommissar started to sway slightly where she stood. “Well then, little mouse, shall we?”

Beca closed her eyes and let the music flow through her for a second. She got a feel for the beat and how the song was mixed. There were a few things she’d do differently, but she was rather impressed. She wondered what this song was.

When she blinked her eyes open she was dancing in the rather awkward way she had when she wasn’t going through Bella choreography. Kommissar was staring at her with her head tilted and curious eyes.

“Where did you just go?” She asked and Beca read her lips more than actually heard the words.

“Just listening to the music.” Beca shrugged.

“It was more than that.” Beca felt Kommissar’s eyes trying to dissect her piece by piece. Strangely she didn’t mind the feeling.

“I, um, I’m a music producer, or well, I will be one day. Right now I just landed a job that’s a step up from being an intern again, but it’s a place to start.”

Kommissar’s head raised in a gesture of understanding. “And you were listening to the music, but much more…” She searched for the word she wanted for just an instant, “intensely than most.”

Beca nodded. “Yeah, like how it’s mixed and everything.” She waited for a second until the chorus of the song repeated. “Like that,” she gestured at the speakers. “I would have shifted the beat differently. It’s not bad how it is now, but it would have been better if the eighth notes and the rests were switched around a bit, catchier.”

Kommissar hummed. “I’ve never thought about music like that. It sounds interesting.”

Beca blushed just a bit. She hoped that Kommissar couldn’t see in the semi-dark of the party. Of course she had no such luck.

“Little mice shouldn’t be able to blush, but I find it very…cute, I believe is the word.”

“Yeah, well, you’re too scary to be cute, but it’s kinda sexy.” And there was that tendency to compliment Kommissar when she meant to insult her. She sighed.

Kommissar chuckled. “Thank you, I believe.”

Another song came on, a slow song this time. People coupled up around them and Beca felt herself panicking again. Oh god. Normally with slow songs she left and went and got another drink or went to the bathroom, but Kommissar was still right in front of her. The German stepped closer and suddenly her hands were on Beca’s hips and Beca’s arms were up on Kommissar’s shoulders. It was a bit of a stretch and Jesus what did her parents feed her when she was little, miracle grow? There was totally not enough room between them for Jesus.

“Do you only club dance, mouse? You’re very stiff.”

And just like that Beca relaxed into Kommissar’s grip and started to really dance with her. She would show the woman that she knew how to slow dance. Everyone knew how to slow dance. It wasn’t like it was that hard. Hard was mixing a new set every freaking whipstitch this past year when they were trying to figure out how to beat DSM while balancing classwork and her internship. She could handle swaying in a freaking circle.

She tried to ignore her rapidly beating heart, but it was a little hard to do when it was almost drowning out the song playing. Her mouth was dry and she was pretty sure her palms were sweating in a very unattractive way. Why, oh why was she such a mess around this woman. The alcohol wasn’t helping, but the longer this went on the less she was able to blame the alcohol for everything. She was a champion at lying to herself, but even she could only do it for so long.

“You aren’t bad at this,” Kommissar sounded surprised.

“Why would I be? I’ve been in the Bellas for four years. I really do know how to dance after all of that. Besides, this isn’t hard.”

“Ah yes, but you are clumsy, remember?”

“And does this prove I’m not? I’m still drunk after all and I haven’t stepped on your toes once or stumbled or anything. You know most people have really ugly feet, but you don’t. I don’t think you have ugly anything.” At some point she was going to get used to the fact that she had no filter around Kommissar. Today was not that day. She leaned forward and groaned, the sound muffled by the fabric in front of her.

Fabric. She pulled back again, realizing just what in the hell she’d been doing. Her head had totally been right in Kommissar’s chest. What in the world had she been thinking. Then again, she hadn’t really been thinking and that was problem.

Kommissar was smirking down at her. “Was there something you liked down there, little mouse? You poked me for a rather long time a while ago and now your head somehow finds its way down there.”

Beca felt her hackles rise just a little bit. “It’s not my fault you’re a giant goddess or that your chest is at my eye level or that it’s perfect.” God the longer she spent in Kommissar’s arms the more flustered she got. Still, she made no move to break away from the other woman. She really was a goner, wasn’t she?

But she couldn’t be a goner. That wasn’t an option. Worlds may be over but that didn’t mean that DSM wasn’t an enemy anymore. Or that she didn’t still have a boyfriend. That was probably the more important point, but why the hell did she remember that second? Her head was swimming a little even as she felt the alcohol leaving her system.

Another fast song came on and Beca broke away under the guise of dancing. That switch could not have come at a better time. They started to dance with each other again. Kommissar was still wearing that knowing smirk and Beca was doing her damnedest to ignore it. Anyone sane would just go back to the hotel, but no she had to be crazy. Then again what about the last four years hadn’t been a little bit crazy. It was hard not to be with the Bellas. Maybe this was just overflow. She liked the thought of that even as the little voice in the back of her head screamed that it was wrong.

A guy stumbled up to them, obviously wasted, staring at the both of them. He tried to get in-between them, trying to grab onto Beca and hump her, expecting Kommissar to grind on him from behind. Beca stepped out of the way fast enough that his arms landed in thin air. He shrugged at her and turned around to be confronted by the coldest glare that Beca had ever seen. Damn, that was scary. Why the hell was she turned on?

She shook herself stepping forward to shove the guy out of the way and tell him to go slink into a corner or something. Kommissar, however, didn’t need the help.

“I believe my friend and I were having a very good time on our own without someone like you in the way.” Her eyes travelled over the guy’s frame with obvious disgust. “Fly away small little man, no one wants you here.”

“Bitch, what do you know? Your friend is obviously into me.”

Beca’s nostrils flared. She came to stand beside Kommisar, arms crossed on her chest. She didn’t miss when the guy’s eyes dropped to her now emphasized cleavage. Ugh, gross.

“Um, no, I’m not. At all. Why the hell would I be attracted to someone who smells like a distillery where a can of axe spray exploded? Who even wears axe? What are you, like fifteen? And no one calls her a bitch, douche bag.”

He looked between the two of them for just a second. “Oh I get it, you two are just a fucking pair of lesbians. Right, fucking bitches, you just need some dick.”

Kommissar bent down and got very close to the guy’s face. “Better to be a lesbian that be with someone as…” her eyes drifted down to the guy’s crotch. “lacking as you. At least we are well aware how to treat women.”

He sputtered for a few seconds before slinking off with one last “fucking bitches,” tossed over his shoulder.

Beca immediately glanced up at Kommissar now that they were alone on the dancefloor again. “Are you ok?” she asked at the same time as Kommisar asked, “Are you alright?”

They both smiled at each other for a second before nodding.

“Keep dancing with me?” Kommissar asked. “I hate for someone like him to ruin our fun.”

“Sure,” Beca said without even really thinking about it. Oh, no, Beca, completely miss the perfect out to go back to the hotel and be a sane person again, she thought. Jesus what was she even doing.

But as her and Kommissar started to dance again, another fast, bass heavy song the beat through her, she found she really didn’t care what she was doing. The other woman had come to defend her and she had no desire to leave her presence. It was just dancing, right? She pushed her still swirling thoughts to the back of her mind for now to deal with later. She was sure she’d probably have a mini panic attack over everything that she’d pushed to the side, her need to be in control of everything would see to that, but she was having fun. It would be worth it. Hopefully.

She smiled up at Kommissar and they kept dancing for a few songs, saying nothing, just enjoying the other’s company. All of a sudden Kommissar’s hands were on her hips again and Kommisar’s mouth was by her ear. Beca tried to pull back but whispered words had her freezing.

“Just go with it, please?” she asked, accent pulling the words strangely and sending shivers down Beca’s spine.

Kommissar spun Beca around and started grinding with her. Their hips were completely the wrong height for this really, but Beca found her body heating just the same. Beca immediately saw the cause of the sudden change in their dance style. A guy looked at them intensely with a frown on his face, obviously contemplating whether it was still worth it to come over to them. Beca reached up and behind her and looped her arms around Kommisar’s neck and the guy backed off. Beca smiled as Kommissar made the quietest surprised noise right in Beca’s ear. She, however, did not push Beca’s arms away even as she saw the guy slink off into the crowd.

Beca was in no real hurry to change their position either. It was a little awkward with their height difference, but it was nice. And if it kept the guys who were obviously too drunk at this point in the party away, well it was a plus. That was all it was. Nothing else. A few more songs passed and Beca felt it getting later and later. She should probably go back to the hotel soon. Tomorrow the Bellas did have plans to go sightseeing now that Worlds was over, but a few more songs couldn’t hurt.

Kommissar turned her around again, but kept them close together as they danced face to face once more. Beca felt something shifting between them. The alcohol she’d drank earlier was losing its buzz, but she still felt intoxicated. Then again, the effect that Kommissar had on her sometimes wasn’t unlike that of alcohol and she was awfully close to the other woman. That would explain everything. Somewhat anyway.

A soft hand came to cup her face. Beca leaned into the touch and Kommissar smiled at her. “Little mouse,” she said.

Beca noticed that Kommissar’s full, red lips were rather close to hers. When had that happened? She didn’t remember. She felt black out drunk even as the alcohol content of her blood dropped faster than a rock.

“Your breath smells like cherries,” Beca said and if she was a little breathless that was beside the point.

Kommissar chuckled again and Beca could feel it much more intimately than before. She shivered and the other woman gripped her tighter. Her mouth came just a fraction of an inch closer. Beca’s breath hitched. Kommissar gasped almost silently against Beca. What was even going on? She couldn’t think straight and right now she really wanted to.

The sound ended in the background and another began but Beca barely registered it. Her world had narrowed to the blonde that was pressed up against her from thighs to chest. When had they gotten so close? That was another question that was just going to remain unanswered. She didn’t like not having answers, but she still didn’t think too hard about.

Kommissar’s mouth was lowering again, closing that last few inches slowly, allowing Beca the time to see the move coming and pull away if she wanted. Beca appreciated the gesture, but she didn’t need the pull away. She stayed right where she was.

Kommissar’s lips were on hers a second later. The fireworks that people talked about, the ones that she thought were imaginary, that people made up to be dramatic, exploded behind her eyelids. A tiny moan worked up her throat as her lips started to move instinctively against Kommissar’s. The woman was a perfect kisser, just like she was perfect in everything else and she wanted this moment to last forever. She tasted like cherries too, sweet and tart and addicting.

She licked along Kommissar’s bottom lip without thinking about it and the mouth over hers opened. Her tongue inched forward into Kommissar’s mouth. It was warm and silky and the taste of cherries intensified and mixed with alcohol and something vaguely spicy. When her tongue met Kommissar’s one of the groaned and Beca couldn’t tell which one it was. She wasn’t quite in her body at the moment. She existed in the space where both she and Kommissar connected and nowhere else. She hadn’t known that kissing could be like this.

She pulled her tongue back, ready to pull back and try to take a breath, to try and figure out just what was going on, but Kommissar followed her. The other woman’s tongue was everywhere, finding every single sensitive spot there was in her mouth and melting Beca into a puddle of goo. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stand after thing. Her legs were jello. Her fingers started to coast up Kommissar’s neck into her hair. It was just as soft as Beca imagined. God what about this woman wasn’t perfect?

Her body was on fire as the kiss continued. She knew they were in public, that they should probably pull back and tone it down now, but she couldn’t make herself. Kommissar’s fingers were making little circles on her hips and it was maddening and perfect. She didn’t understand why kissing Jesse hadn’t felt like this. This was amazing and kissing Jesse was nice and all, but it wasn’t this hot fire that had in her a pile of goo almost from the get go.

Jesse. Holy shit, Jesse.

She pulled back from the kiss quickly. She blinked and swallowed and tried not the focus on just how good Kommissar looked like a little mussed from an intense make out session. That was so not the point right now. The point was she had a boyfriend and dancing wasn’t cheating, but kissing another person probably was and she needed to stop right now.

But she wanted to dive back in and that was what caused her to step back, mouth still opening and closing, trying to find the words to say what they had just done was wrong, but they wouldn’t come. They weren’t true, anyway, and maybe that was why should couldn’t think of them. But this had to stop right then even if she couldn’t end this completely.

“I, um, I just—I’m going to go back to my hotel now. I mean it’s late and I’m drunk and I have things to do tomorrow and I just need to go? Right, so I’m going to leave.” She stared at Kommissar for a few long seconds. For some god unknown reason there was another smile on the woman’s face, complimenting the blush that was still gracing her cheeks. Beca thought there wasn’t anything more beautiful and Jesus she needed to get out of her before everything she knew and held dear fell apart in front of her because it wasn’t like enough of her life was changing right now.

“Really, going to leave now. Um, bye.”

“Goodbye, little mouse. See you tomorrow.”

And Beca wondered what the hell that was about, but she wasn’t about to stick around to find out. She rushed out of the room. She desperately hoped that she wasn’t leaving any of the Bellas alone at the party, but right now she couldn’t handle staying to check. They were all adults and hopefully could take care of themselves. Because Beca wasn’t sure she could right now.

The cool air outside calmed her just a bit. It wasn’t raining for once and Beca was glad. She hadn’t brought an umbrella. But now that she was walking, almost on autopilot, back to the hotel her brain started to spiral out of control. What in the world had gotten into her? Why the hell had she forgotten that she had a boyfriend for a good portion of the night? How could she when she’d been with him for almost three years? Why the hell did Kommissar make her do shit like this? Surely it couldn’t be healthy.

She sighed as she thought of the other woman. Really, if she was going to lose her mind over someone, she’d picked a good choice. She growled at herself, this was so not what she was supposed to be thinking about right now. She ran her hand through her hair again.

She was going to have to find Jesse, that much was clear. She couldn’t not tell him about the fact that she had just made out with a hot German woman. He was her best friend and her boyfriend and they told each other everything. She couldn’t leave out something this important. It would be terrible. But god she was not looking forward to that conversation. She should just do it when she got back to the hotel while there was still at least a little bit of liquid courage flowing through her.

She nodded to herself and continued down the sidewalk at a faster pace. That was what she would do. She swallowed hard. God she was an idiot. A super freaking idiot.

 


	3. Chapter 3

She stood outside of Jesse’s door and shifted from foot to foot. She didn’t even know if Jesse was here or back at the after party. If she really wanted to she could just call him and find out his location, but that would cost them both a fuck ton of money in overseas phone charges and really she didn’t want to find out for sure just yet. If he wasn’t here right now she could put it off if she wanted to. She could say that she tried and she wouldn’t be lying.

God damn it she was a fucking coward. Fuck it. She raised her hand and knocked on the door and held her breath. She’d knocked, she couldn’t take it back now. Shit there was definitely rustling inside. Ugh, she was so going to regret this later she could feel it. But at the same time she was going to feel better and damn it weren’t emotions a bitch.

The door opened to reveal a half dressed Benji. Beca took half a step back, shocked. That was totally not what she was expecting. She’d forgotten that they’d gotten a room together to save money. She’d bet her all her money that Legacy was in the room too.

“Uh, hey, um, sorry, but do you happen to know where Jesse is?” She kept herself from twitching too much. Benji was the one person in the world that was more awkward than she was, she was fine.

“Um, I think he was headed for your room? I’m not really sure I mean.” He glanced back in the room. “I was distracted.” He swallowed rather hard as a quiet laugh sounded behind him.

Oh yeah, Legacy was in there. “Ok, thanks, I’ll check there.” She shrugged. “Don’t want to pay a hella cell phone bill.” She turned and made her way down the hall as fast as possible without running or generally looking like a completely and total dork.

She took the elevator down to her room and opened the door to she Jesse stretched out in a t-shirt and boxers on her bed. She swallowed hard and forced herself into the room. Now or never.

Jesse looked up at her and smiled. “Hey,” he said, sitting up and sitting cross legged on the bed.

“Hey,” Beca echoed. She walked in farther and slipped off her heels. She sighed in relief as her feet hit the floor. Heels made her look nice, but they were so totally not nice on her feet. She flexed her toes into the carpet and flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“How was the rest of the party?” Jesse asked.

Oh and that would be the perfect opening to tell Jesse everything that happened with Kommissar, but damn she wasn’t ready yet. “Where did you go? You aren’t one to miss out on free booze.”

Jesse shrugged and laid beside her. “It was cool to dance and all, but I wasn’t super feeling it tonight, you know?”

Beca nodded. Oh she knew that feeling.

“You, however, looked like you were having a grand time.” He threw an arm over her stomach and brought them closer together.

Beca swallowed hard and felt herself tearing up just a little bit. He was really good to her and she had gone and kissed Kommissar. But then again he had left the party without telling her. And he had been absent quite a lot recently, at least physically.

But that wasn’t an excuse. She ran her hand through her hair again, frustrated when the mattress stopped her hand from going as far as she wanted it.

“Yeah, the dancing was fun. The long island iced teas here are rather potent.” She laughed weakly.

“I happen to know you can handle potent.” He smiled at her.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“What about DSM. I saw that girl talking to you at the bar one time.”

Something about how he worded his last comment irked Beca. Kommissar wasn’t a girl, certainly. She was totally a woman. A really, really, hot woman. Ugh, so not the point right now.

“Yeah, uh, she came over and congratulated the Bellas on winning. I did that awkward thing where I tried to insult her but they were compliments that verged on creepy. She took the drink that I was getting for Chloe, she said I was feisty in a cute way, I got a new drink and then before she would let me go back to the Bellas she asked if we could dance later. It was weird.”

Jesse laughed. “Yeah, well, the interactions between the two of you always have been a little weird. Remember that time you called her physically flawless but that didn’t mean you liked her?”

Beca groaned loudly. “Yeah, how exactly could I forget?”

“Point made?”

“Point totally made and now I want to hit you with a pillow for even reminding me.”

“So did you dance with her?”

“Yeah, the rest of the Bellas disappeared after a while and Chloe got whisked off by this really smoking girl. Holy shit man. But then I was alone and I was going to dance the rest of my buzz off and then go home and everything and suddenly she was just there.”

Jesse snorted. “She popped out of the snow like a daisy.”

“Yes! Exactly. Except the daisy needs to be replaced by something more deadly like a gun or something.”

“I don’t think that analogy works, Becs.”

Beca reached out and shoved him gently. “What do you know?”

“According to my recently acquired college degree, a great deal.”

“Right, because pieces of paper really mean anything.” She glared at him.

“Fine, fine, go on, she showed up out of nowhere.”

“Yeah, well, she showed up and then asked to dance again and I couldn’t just say no since I was alone and she had already asked earlier. Well I could have, but I didn’t. And then we talked and danced for a while and it was nice and I kept accidentally complimenting her and she was just smirking at each compliment and it was really unfair and sexy and Jesus I don’t understand what the hell she’s even made out of. But then anyway, this guy tried to get between us and Kommissar basically told him to shove it and he got testy and called her a bitch and I said that he needed to back the fuck up and that he was douchebag and then he called us ugly lesbians basically and Kommissar told him that he had a small penis and then he finally went away thank god. And then we danced some more because she said not to let him ruin the good time we were having, but then some other fuck boy was on our way over to us and Kommissar just pulled me against her and started grinding on me, except at the time I didn’t know why she’d done it until a couple seconds afterwards but then I played along and amped it up and put my arms around her neck and the guy went away. But then we didn’t pull apart and we kept dancing like that and.”

She pulled in a breath. She was totally babbling and she knew it, but she was panicked and she couldn’t wait to just have this all out in the air. She really didn’t want Jesse to hate her or anything.

“And then she spun me around after a few songs and we were dancing face to face but there wasn’t any more space between us than there was before and I don’t really know what happened because then she was cupping my face and suddenly our faces were really close together and next thing I know we’re kissing and kissing for a while and holy Christ on a cracker she can kiss, Jesse, it’s ridiculous because is there really anything she can’t do at this point? But we finally pulled back and then I realized that I really shouldn’t have done that and so I told her I had to go and I just sort of left her there on the dance floor and came straight here because I knew I had to tell you about it because your like my best friend besides Chloe and my boyfriend and I really shouldn’t have done that but I did and oh my god.” She gasped in another breath and closed her eyes. There. It was all out. She felt like she was about to die, or maybe just throw up a bit, but it was out in the open and Jesse knew about it and she wasn’t lying to him. A hand came up to rub at her temples. She needed to drink some water and take some aspirin to ward off the impending hangover and tension headache she could feel coming on.

“Well, I can’t say I blame you,” Jesse said after a long minute.

Beca jerked up and looked down at Jesse. “Wh-what?”

“She is hot. Like really hot.”

“Jesse, what the fuck?”

He smirked at her, but she could see that not all of him was in the expression. “Not the reaction you expected?”

“Um, no, not really…”

Jesse sat up and grabbed Beca’s hands. “Listen, it’s fine. You were at least a little tipsy when it happened right?”

Beca didn’t know if she had a completely true answer to that. Was their alcohol in her system then, yeah probably, but it wasn’t really what had made her feel so drunk. Or maybe it had been and she was just overthinking things. Again. For the millionth time. Because damn it, it would be so much simpler if it was just the alcohol.

“Yeah, the iced tea was still in effect, but that’s really not an excuse.”

“No, maybe not, but you were tipsy at least, dancing with a hot girl that you’ve been basically accidentally flirting with all year. You got caught up in the moment. Sometimes when you turn your brain off for more than two seconds at a time stuff like that happens. And as soon as it happened you realized that it wasn’t exactly right and you came straight to me and told me about it. It’s fine Beca, as long as it didn’t mean anything. I trust you. You won’t do anything without telling me. That’s not how we work.”

“I, uh, no it didn’t mean anything.” Beca looked away towards the opposite wall of the room. “But what if it ever does?”

“Well, then you’ll tell me and we can figure it out from there.” He reached up and cupped Beca’s face. “But in the meantime if you could keep the random kissing of strangers that doesn’t mean anything, I’d be cool with that.”

Beca snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think you have anything to worry about in that department. Last two people I’ve kissed have played cat and mouse with me for a year before I caved, I don’t see that changing.”

“Well then, it’s settled. I trust you.” He leaned forward and kissed Beca on the forehead. “Come on, it’s late and we have to be up tomorrow before three. Better sleep. Pjs.” He pointed at the pile of pjs on the floor where Beca had left them that morning.

Beca obediently got up and changed quickly and brushed her teeth. By the time she was done Jesse was already under the covers. She slipped in on the other side and settled down into the bed. It wasn’t her bed at home, but it would certainly do as tired as she was. Jesse switched off the light and snuggled up to Beca’s back.

His breath evened out fairly quickly, but Beca laid awake for a long time. All she could think about was how she was glad that he hadn’t kissed her on the lips earlier. It wouldn’t have felt right after kissing Kommissar, she was sure, but she wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. She didn’t want to think about it because her brain was putting together conclusions that she so didn’t want, but there was nothing else that she could focus on for more than three seconds. She wanted to flip and flop and try to exhaust herself into sleep, but it just wasn’t working. And so she laid there for a long time, thinking about kissing Kommissar and comparing it to how Jesse kissed her and feeling guilty all over again when she let herself realize that she didn’t want Jesse to kiss her because after kissing Kommissar, it would have been too big a disappointment.

 


	4. Chapter 4

She never slept. Not that she didn’t try her best, it just wasn’t going to happen with her brain buzzing ninety miles an hour. She pushed herself out of bed when the sun crested the horizon and started to color the curtains orange. She turned and nudged Jesse awake enough to tell him that she was going for a run. He mumbled his agreement and then promptly fell back asleep. She would definitely have to send him a text as he was leaving just to make sure he knew where she was going.

Beca donned her running gear, as if she was really going to go workout. She was too damn tired for that, though she could use the break to let her brain go offline and just concentrate putting on foot in front of another. If she could motivate herself. Which she totally couldn’t right now. She grabbed her iPod, phone, and room key from the dresser before walking from the room. If she couldn’t run to clear her mind maybe she could focus on the music.

She stuffed her earbuds into her ears and started towards the elevators. She had a new album on here that she’d specifically added for this trip if she got bored. Dissecting the tracks would keep her sufficiently distracted, at least she hoped.  She stabbed the button on the elevator as the first track started to play. Bass pounded through her headphones and soon a violin line sounded. Good, a little cliché right now in music, but it was a decent line so far.

She closed her eyes for a second and by the time she opened her eyes again the elevator doors were open. She stepped inside and nodded her head along to the song that was playing through the headphones, flowing through her body and lifting her. She hadn’t thought she’d like this album, it wasn’t her normal style, but it fit her mood perfectly right now.

Beca wandered off the elevator and into the streets of Copenhagen. She walked for a long time, always keeping track of where she was going so she didn’t get lost, but that was the most attention she gave the world for the hour and fifteen minutes that the album lasted. She swallowed as the final chords played and she was left in silence once more. Now she had nothing to do again and she was at least half an hour from her hotel in the rather circuitous route she’d taken. She was sure there was a more direct route there, but she didn’t know it and she wasn’t about to risk getting lost in a strange city where she didn’t speak the language.

She pressed a few buttons on her iPod and soon a favorite album of hers was playing through the little speakers. It calmed her slightly as she started to walk back through the streets. She knew all the words by heart, each and every chord she could see clearly. She sighed as the music washed over her.

But the price she paid for that familiarity was that her brain could drift away easily from the music and relegate the enjoyment to the background. And again her thoughts were off and running. Beca wanted to curse but she also really didn’t want to call any attention to herself in the middle of a city. She kept the explicatives to a rather colorful display in her own mind before she ran out of words and finally she could put off the thoughts no longer.

Jesse hadn’t freaked out about her kissing Kommissar. Which was fucking great since it was definitely within his rights to yell at her about the fact that she had most definitely made out with someone who wasn’t him. But he had been cool and collected the entire time about the whole thing. Beca felt like it was weird to think that she would have rather had him freak out a bit at her before calming down and being cool about it. What in the world did it mean that he hadn’t freaked even a little bit?

What the hell did she mean what the hell did it mean? It meant that he trusted her, just like he had told her. And the fact that he trusted her was something to cherish.

But at the same time if this was reversed how in the world would she have reacted? She knew that they weren’t the same person, but if anyone in their relationship was the overly emotional one it was Jesse. Beca was well aware that sometimes she had way too tight a grip on her emotions. It was just something that always had been that way and she was used to it. And so that’s what was concerning. If the tables had been turned and Jesse had been making out with someone else she would have been furious at first. She would have calmed quickly after Jesse explained a little more, but she would still need at least a day to come to the place that Jesse had started out at.

She worried at her lip. That didn’t mean anything. He could have just been tired or something, right? She ran her hand through her hair, almost pulling out of the hasty ponytail she’d put it up in. She huffed and redid the ponytail and continued to walk back to the hotel. This kind of thinking wasn’t getting her anywhere, never got her anywhere, but here she was.

And really what was with all the thoughts she’d had the night before. She would rather be kissing Kommissar? She barely even knew the other woman. She had known Jesse for three years. They had built something together, something deeper than nice looking lips and beautiful eyes. So what if it was a little strained right now.

Wait, when did she think that her relationship with Jesse was strained? She didn’t, right? She had just joked around with him the night before like nothing had ever changed between them. That had to mean that they were still good.

But what if it meant they were still good friends even if the more intimate parts of their relationship were crumbling? She swallowed as she nudged aside a few slow moving teenagers. What if that was it? She didn’t even remember when the last time they’d really had sex was. She’d taken matters into her own hands for the last few months. She’d barely even noticed. Jesse had been there for the occasional cuddle or make out session, but that was all the further it went. How the hell had she not noticed this until now?

It was just because she’d been so focused on graduation and worlds and finding a job and god knew how demanding her internship had been. That was the only reason that she hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t because her and Jesse were growing apart as a couple. That couldn’t be it. She refused to believe it.

Beca almost sobbed in relief when she saw her hotel on the horizon. Thank god. Maybe if she stopped walking and got breakfast with her friends then she would stop thinking, but then again that was what this walk was supposed to be about and she had only managed to stop thinking for an hour. It wasn’t exactly a milestone. For once she wished for finals week just so she’d think of nothing else but the fact that she had to study and pass everything. Or even Chloe’s four hour long worlds practices would be welcome at the moment. Just something.

She climbed back into her hotel a few minutes later. Her muscles were pleasantly tired from being worked, but not in the same intense way as after a run. It would do, she supposed. She made her way through the lobby and into the elevator, pressing the button for her floor.

She navigated back through the rather labyrinthine hallways until she was almost at her room. A door opened right in front of Beca. She stopped to make sure no one was immediately going to run into her before she started forward again only to run into whoever was coming from the room. Damn it, she just should have kept walking in the first place and then she wouldn’t be running into—

“Kommissar?” Beca asked, just on this side of breathless.

“Ah, little mouse, how coincidental, I was just thinking about you.” Kommissar smiled down at Beca.

Beca felt herself flushing. “Yeah, well, I don’t think about you or anything. I definitely wasn’t thinking about that kiss last night.” She shuffled back. And they were back to this again.

“Oh really?” She arched an eyebrow. A perfectly sculpted eyebrow. Really, who outside of Hollywood had eyebrows that on point? Beca was sure it was illegal.

“Yeah, no, not at all.”

“Well I did. It was rather nice. If you would have stayed longer perhaps we could have made an encore performance, but I understand that you had to go do…well whatever it was that you had to do.”

“It was important! And, stuff and junk. Definitely what I was thinking about last night instead of you.”

Kommissar’s hand came up and gently tucked a piece of hair that had escaped Beca’s ponytail behind her ear. “You know, little mouse, I think you protest too much for that to really be the truth.”

Beca swallowed. She needed to get out of here. Here was the literally person that was making her question everything she knew about herself and every second she talked to her it just got worse and worse. At some point she was going to snap and no one needed that, especially her.

“Whatever, why would I care what you think,” she scoffed in as harsh a tone as she could manage. It wasn’t anything like the scathing tone that Kommissar seemed to conjure at the drop of a hat, but it was something at least.

“Because you do, it’s as simple as that.”

“Nothing about this is simple.”

Kommissar shrugged and managed to make the gesture look regal. “Yes, well, perhaps not, but anything worth having rarely is, ja?”

Beca ignored that little shiver that went down her spine. “No, not ja,” she sneered. “Somethings that you want are simple and they’re worth more because they are simple!” Oh no, she could feel it coming. She could feel the outburst that was brewing inside her and if she didn’t run soon it was going to happen right here in the hotel hall. She wanted to run but something about Kommissar just kept her rooted to the spot.

“What’s it really worth if you don’t fight for it? Yes, simple things are nice and they serve their purpose, but you like music production, right? Is that easy? I’m willing to bet it isn’t, but that’s part of what makes it rewarding. You are good at it, yes, but that doesn’t meant that you don’t have more to learn every single day.”

“But that’s something, not someone. That logic doesn’t apply.”

“It does, little mouse. Your friends, you’ve fought with them, yes? You’ve gone through struggles that no one else but them can understand, and you’ve all come out on the other side closer because of it. You did not give up at the first hint of challenge with them. Why should a romantic relationship be any different?”

“Because it just should ok! Jesus, you don’t even know me. What the fuck have you been stalking me, you beautifully crafted angel?” Beca was screaming inside her head because she was falling off the edge of sanity and still managing to compliment Kommissar at the same time. “Jesus, what is it with you! Just get away from me. I don’t want you around me.” She turned to go before she could break anymore.

Kommissar, on the other hand, had other ideas. She stepped forward and grabbed Beca’s wrist. She tugged the smaller girl into the hotel room and shut the door behind them. She leaned against it, making sure Beca couldn’t get out.

“Oh, ok, like that isn’t creepy at all or anything, just trapping me in the room like this? Are you mad that I accused you of stalking, because I think this might be worse.”

Kommissar shrugged, looking at Beca with a stare that couldn’t quite be interpreted. Not that Beca really ever had a clue what the hell was going on in Kommissar’s head.

“This is a more appropriate place for the little feisty mouse to yell at me than the hallway, ja?”

“God, can’t you just use the word yes like a normal person?”

“I think you forget, mousy, that where I come using the word ja is the normal. The whole world is not America, though I know that’s so hard to remember.” Her voice was harder now, but her face was still impassive. Beca didn’t understand it and it was just making her that much angrier.

“Let me the fuck out. I don’t want to yell at you anymore. If you hadn’t noticed before you dragged me in here, I was walking the rest of the way back to my room.”

“No, you were running away, and you don’t run away.”

“How would you even know! We’ve met each other a grand total of like six freaking times. Just because we kissed means nothing. I don’t even know what your real name is and I’m not exactly sure you know what mine is either.”

“And yet I know you have a great many things to say to me. I see it in the way you hold yourself, the fear and anger in your eyes. You try to shut yourself up, but your eyes give you away.”

Beca reached forward poked Kommissar in the chest again. “Fine, you want yelled at, you’ve got it. I don’t know you. You don’t know me.”

“Yes, as you have already said.” She almost sounded bored. It spurred Beca on that much more.

“Yeah, well, it’s fucking unfair that you just get to waltz into my life one day, completely fucking perfect, and you just fuck everything up from the first moment. That was our victory tour and you just took it.”

“We took it because you were not allowed to perform anymore, no other reason.”

“Still! And then you just outdo us the whole time and we thought we were special just you just blew that whole thing sky high from the freaking first note of Resistance. And then you started your duet with Pieter and I was just so blown away and it wasn’t even fair. Especially when you came up to us afterwards and started to taunt us because no one is supposed to flip my life upside down like that in an instant! I do that perfectly well on my own because I just have fucking talent. I can’t handle another person.

“I can’t handle anything right now. I especially can’t handle the fact that you keep popping up everywhere and it’s not making it any easier to ignore the fact that I now have the biggest fucking question mark of my sexuality right when I’m supposed to have everything figured out and start my life with a job and whatever. I thought I knew myself and now I don’t and it’s all your fault for just freaking existing.

“And then you make out with me and I didn’t even think about my boyfriend for god knows how long. Now I’m so guilt over that I can’t even function properly but when I told him about it he said it was fine because he trusts me and as long as it meant nothing it was cool. And I’m torn between thank god he’s not freaking out and why the fuck isn’t he freaking out because if it was me I would have needed a day to chill before being like it’s all good and I’m the least volatile of the two of us. Not that you can fucking tell right now because I’ve just completely gone off the fucking deep end because you kept talking to me instead of letting me go back to my room where I could have sorted through all of this without blowing my top like some sort of anger management case.”

“You wouldn’t have sorted through it. You would have bottled it up.”

“You aren’t supposed to know that! How could you?”

“I’m very observant, little mouse and perhaps I am much the same in that respect.”

Beca closed her eyes and the finger she still had poked into Kommissar’s chest retracted. Her hand instead found its resting place where her finger had once been. She felt Kommissar breathing underneath her and the fury launched up again.

“God, how do you even do that? All I want to do is forget about you, but I can’t. For fucks sake last night the only thing I could think of was the fast that it wasn’t my own boyfriend that I wanted holding me, it was you and I don’t even know you and that’s not how it’s supposed to work. I’m not supposed to be glad that he kissed me on the forehead instead of the lips because it would have paled in comparison the kiss we’d just had an hour before. I couldn’t fucking sleep because my brain kept circling around those thoughts. The only time I’ve stopped was when I went on a walk and I was listening to a new album I hadn’t listened to yet and I was dissecting the production decisions that went into it. After that ended it was just another half hour of walking back any thinking about you again.” Her hand curled into a fist resting on Kommissar’s chest. “And I told Jesse that it didn’t mean anything, but I don’t know if that was the truth or a lie anymore and I don’t know what’s going on and it’s so fucking scary and it’s not fair and it’s all your fault. It’s all your fault.” The last part was said in a near whisper.

“There you go, Beca. It’s all out.” Kommissar’s voice was soft now. “Do you feel better?”

Beca didn’t know how to answer that question just yet. There was still so much screaming going on inside her head, but all her words for the moment were exhausted.  She blinked her eyes and wasn’t very surprised to find that they were full of tears. She tried to blink them back, but she was only partly successful. One tear slipped over her eyelid and started to trail down her cheek.

Before she could wipe it away, Kommissar’s hand was there, wiping it away for her. She couldn’t help herself, she leaned into the gentle touch. She felt more exhausted now than she could remember being in a long time. Then Kommissar’s arms were around her shoulders and drawing her into a hug. Beca closed her eyes and slumped against the other woman. She shouldn’t feel safe, but she did. She felt the safest she’d felt in a long time.

“I feel better now,” Beca mumbled without meaning to. At least it was an involuntary compliment for once.

“Good, liebling, good. Do you want to go sit down for a little bit?”

Beca nodded against Kommissar’s chest. What she really felt like doing was sleeping for the next millennia to avoid everything that was going on, but sitting down was the second best option she guessed. Kommissar led them forward with small steps so Beca never had to detach from her. It was a nice gesture, really, since Beca wasn’t exactly sure she could let go of the only reason she was standing at the moment.

Then they were on the bed that was definitely unmade and Beca blushed a little bit at that fact. She didn’t know what about an unmade bed felt intimate in this case, but it did. She’d sat on friends unmade beds for years and hadn’t thought about it like this. Then again, Kommissar seemed to be the exception to all her rules.

“I know outbursts like that take a lot out of you,” Kommissar said after they were settled.

“Like you ever do that, you’re perfect,” Beca said face now smushed into the curve of Kommissar’s neck as Kommissar leaned back against the headboard with Beca molded into her side.

“But I do. I told you that I am much the same with bottling things up. We may not know each other very well, little mouse, but in some aspects we are the same. And in other ways we are completely different. It is the way of things.” She shrugged, jostling Beca just slightly. “I never truly meant to be…creepy, I believe is how you would put it. I’m just observant.”

“Still a little creepy.”

“Then I apologize.”

“Apology accepted.” She settled down further into Kommissar. “It’s only really creepy because I don’t think half my friends now would realize that was sort of what I needed.”

“We all need a chance to vent every now and again. I believe they would have figured it out eventually.”

“Maybe Chloe and Fat Amy, the rest.” This time it was Beca’s turn to shrug. “And Jesse, but he really doesn’t count.”

“And why not?”

“Because he’s my boyfriend and if he didn’t get that then why would I be with him? He’s supposed to know me the best out of anyone.”

“And does he still?” Kommissar’s fingers started to stroke through Beca’s ponytail gently.

Beca shivered at the touch but arched into it as soon as Kommissar stopped. “In somethings, yeah, but…” she trailed off.

“Not in everything.”

“Not anymore. He’s sort of been MIA all year physically. Like he’ll still call and text me and whatever else all the time, but I feel like since he’s not there in person he really misses a lot.” Now that she had shouted at Kommissar for a good ten minutes, everything else inside her was just flowing out. She’d been like this before. She knew that the only way to really reset herself was to sleep and wake up and feel better, but she didn’t want to just yet. This felt nice when normally it just felt like she was throwing up her guts for all to see.

“MIA?” Kommissar asked, accent a little thicker than normal.

“Missing in action, technically it’s a term for soldiers who’ve been lost in battle but not officially declared dead or a prisoner of war, but it’s just become slang for someone who isn’t there when they should be.”

“Ah, I see. You make a fair point, mouse, when someone isn’t there they do miss a great deal even if they don’t mean to and talk to you all the time.”

“Yeah.” Beca sighed heavenly. The scent of cinnamon this close to Kommissar was rather overwhelming, but she didn’t really mind. “It’s just…if he were my friend I wouldn’t think anything of it, but he’s my boyfriend, you know?”

“Ja, liebling, I do.”

“And I feel so bad thinking about it and saying he doesn’t know me as well as he used to because he’s not there. We’ve both had really busy years this year, what with senior year and all. But then this is happening and I just…” She shrieked quietly, keeping her mouth closed so the sound really only reverberated in her throat. “Everything isn’t making sense and I need him to be a rock, but it feels like he’s more like quicksand right now.”

“Would it make you feel better, little mouse, if I told you I felt a great deal like that myself, like the…rug has been pulled out from under me, is that the saying?”

Beca nodded into Kommissar’s neck. “You don’t seem like it, though.”

“As you said, we barely know each other and have barely seen each other. Perhaps in another life it would have been me who freaked out on you.”

“Doubtful. You seem in control. I’m just a babbling idiot around you.”

“I find your little compliments cute.” Kommissar kissed the top of her head. “And the saying fake it until you make it applies here.”

“No way.”

“Way. When we get to know each other better I believe you will see that.”

“When?”

“Yes, when. Do you really believe I’m letting you go, little mouse?”

Beca was taken aback by that. When was the last time that someone had told her they weren’t letting go? Jesse had tried that in freshman year, but he had mostly given up by the time she finally came around and they had started from there.

“You know my name, so why do you still call me little mouse?” Beca asked to get away from the topic for a little while. She needed to think and she was growing too tired for that now. Her eyes slipped closed, eyelashes brushing against Kommissar’s neck.

“Because everyone else calls you Beca. That name belongs to everyone else. No one calls you little mouse besides myself. It is mine and I find that I like that.”

“Possessive much,” Beca mumbled.

“Sometimes I am, yes.” Kommissar chuckled. “There, I said yes like a normal person.”

Beca winced. “Sorry about that.”

“You were upset there’s nothing to forgive.”

“But I mean, after everything, I mean I yelled at you for like ten minutes about stuff that wasn’t actually your fault and you just took it, except for that comment, anyway.”

“I just took it as you say because one shouldn’t take anything personally when another person is freaking out. They say things they don’t mean and they say things they do but would have never said otherwise because they know it’s wrong. When you care about someone you let them get it out of their system and let go.”

“Care about?” Beca wanted to sit up and look into Kommissar’s eyes to make sure she was being serious, but her body wouldn’t quite obey her right that second, comfortable where it was already.

“Why question that? You are in my room and we are for all intents and purposes cuddling right now. Do those actions not show care?”

“Yeah, but, I mean what about all the insults from before worlds?”

Kommissar laughed. “It was both intimidation tactics all in good fun and flirting, little mouse.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.” Kommissar’s hand fell from Beca’s hair to her back, making small comforting circles. “You’re tired. Sleep, I will wake you in a couple of hours.”

“I could just go back to my room,” Beca slurred, sleep already claiming her.

“Now why would you do that when I don’t want you to?”

Beca didn’t really have a reason. “Because.”

“It’s a reason, but a justification. You need sleep and I do not want you to leave just yet.”

“Don’t?”

“No, I find perhaps I like this feeling of having the rug pulled out from under me.” She could hear the smile in Kommissar’s voice.

“’kay.” Beca snuggled in a bit more and was asleep in seconds as Kommissar’s arms wrapped around her and made her feel the safest she’d ever felt.


	5. Chapter 5

“Little mouse,” a voice said in her ear far too short a time later. “It’s time to wake up.”

“Noo,” she moaned. “Five more minutes.”

“No, I already let you sleep far too long. You were far too cute to wake up,” Kommissar said from above her.

“Well you’re too comfortable to get up.”

Kommissar’s chest shook as she laughed, waking up Beca even more. She frowned even as a warm feeling spread through her. She couldn’t really begrudge causing the other woman joy, but damn it she really did want to sleep more. But then Kommissar was gently pushing her up and Beca was going mostly willingly. She was sure that the other woman could force her up if she wanted. She definitely had the arms for it. Beca was suddenly overcome with the urge to lick her muscles.

She shook herself and sat up a little bit more. Right, that thought process wasn’t exactly helping. She swallowed. She did feel better though, now that she had let everything out. Everything wasn’t pressing in around her and she had a feel that if she really wanted to, she could stop thinking about the woman behind her who was stretching and making rather obscene noises.

“What time is it?” Beca asked instead of blatantly staring. Or maybe she asked while she blatantly stared. Hell, she didn’t know anymore, but at least it wasn’t as bothersome right now.

“A little after noon.” Kommissar handed Beca her phone. “Your boyfriend has been texting you wondering where you are. I messaged him back to tell him that you were ok and with a friend so he didn’t call the police.”

“Thanks,” Beca took the phone and looked under Jesse’s name right away. She wondered just what in the world Kommissar had said to him. As she read the message Jesse sent and the two the Kommissar had sent back it really was exactly as she said. Well, anticlimactic, but nice to know there wouldn’t really be damage.

She shot him another message about being actually awake after a nap and that she would see him later. He texted back and said ok and that he was going out with Benji and Bumper to get out some site or other that no one else had expressed interest in. A thumbs up later she exited out of Jesse’s messages and texted Chloe. The Bellas were out but were coming back for lunch and a rest before they were off again. She’d just catch up with them then.

She stuffed her phone back in her pocket and looked up at Kommissar. “Sorry, had to let everyone know I’m not dead and everything.”

“Of course.” Kommissar smirked at her. “DSM is not quite so attached at the hip, but I understand nonetheless.”

“That’s because you guys are robots or something.” Beca stuck out her tongue. “Also you guys are basically in like the next state over. It’s not as big a deal.”

“I concede that point, yes. But even when we were abroad touring it was only important to know where everyone was for performances and practices.” Kommissar shrugged. “I believe it makes up for the fact that our practices are rather…harsh.”

Beca laughed. “You, harsh, never. You’re butterfly kisses and hugs. Not that I wouldn’t mind both from you, but that’s so totally not the point I was just trying to make damn it.”

Kommissar chuckled. “You aren’t quite so flustered now, and yet you still compliment me on accident. Oh, little mouse, what will I ever do with you?”

“I could definitely think of some things.” Beca blushed beet red. Jesus, just when she thought she might catch a break with the blabbing thing.

“Ah, but you do have a boyfriend.” And even with the words, Kommissar’s smirk was positively predatory now.

Beca blushed harder. “Yeah, right, um.”

And for the first time in her life she was glad that her stomach chose that exact moment to growl embarrassingly loud. Kommissar looked at her for a long moment before shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

“I don’t suppose you ate before going on this little walk of yours earlier, did you?”

Beca shook her head. She hadn’t eaten since…lunch yesterday? Her nerves had been too much before going on at worlds for actual food. She’d just drank a soda and went back to getting ready.

“What is your room number?”

Beca’s face scrunched in confusion but she gave it without hesitation. “542, why?”

“Go change and we can get food.”

She was momentarily speechless. With anyone else that she had flirted with this much an invitation like that would be a date, but she wasn’t exactly sure right now. Everything was still so up in the air.

Kommissar seemed to know what she was thinking. “It’s just food. It doesn’t have to mean anything more than two friends sharing food for the moment, ja?”

“Ja, I mean yeah, that sounds good.”

“Good, then go change and I’ll meet you at your door. We’ll get you some cheese, little mouse.”

“Ugh, mouse puns.”

“I find that they are fitting,” she pressed a large palm onto Beca’s back. “Now go, I’m hungry too.”

Beca stood and started to walk from the room. At the last minute she turned and looked back at Kommissar, sitting on her bed, mussed from sleep or maybe just laying down while Beca slept. She didn’t look like the fierce leader of DSM in that moment, she just looked like a woman who could be hurt like anyone else. Beca’s heart sped up a bit.

“See you in a minute?” She asked and her voice was shaky. She swallowed and hoped that helped.

“Yes, liebling, in a minute.”

Beca nodded and finally managed to force herself out of the room. She practically jogged down the hall to her room. She breezed in and froze at the door. Kommissar was supposed to meet her at her room, but should she leave the door open so she could come in when she got here if Beca was still getting ready? She debated quickly and flicked the little lock bar out so it was holding the door open and went to gather her things. She grabbed one of her nicer looking shirts and a pair of skinny jeans. She looked at the heels she had packed for any formal occasions that might come up. She could be at least a little taller and wouldn’t have to crane her neck just to look at Kommissar. But no that would be stupid, especially if she had to walk around for a long time. She grabbed her converse instead and slipped into the bathroom to pull everything on.

A knock came on the door right as she was pulling up her jeans, still in her bra, shirt lying on the counter. “Little mouse?” she heard through the crack in the door.

“Come in, Kommissar, I’ll be out in a second.” She looked at the slew of makeup on the counter. Makeup or hair. She probably had time for one, but not really the other. She looked at the dark circles under her eyes. Makeup it was.

She picked up a bottle of concealer and opened it. She had just finished applying it and went to cap it, when it slipped out of her slightly slick fingers and careened onto her chest. A blob came out and smeared all over her chest and bra. “Fuck!” she yelled. She grabbed a washcloth and wetted it, cleaning the concealer from her skin, but as she looked at the bra she knew it was a loss for the day. She’d just have to get a new one.

Except that Kommissar was sitting in the room right now and she would have to walk out there to get a new bra. Beca felt like banging her head off the sink. There were two ways to play this. To walk out and pretend like absolutely nothing was wrong or to cover up like some sort of dweeb and make it that much more embarrassing. Well, seemed like she was just going to walk out like this.

She dabbed the concealer off the fabric with the washcloth, wetting the fabric with large spots. Oh this was going to be just great. She took ahold of the door knob and took a steadying breath before opening it and walking through. Kommissar looked up at her and visibly started before settling back into the calm mask she wore normally.

Beca just shrugged. “Somehow I managed to get concealer all over me.” She walked to her suitcase and grabbed out another bra.

“Ah, so you are clumsy,” Kommissar said smugly.

Beca glared. “Ah yes, one accident and I’m suddenly clumsy. Because you’ve never accidently dropped something in your life.”

“And if I said I hadn’t?” She arched an eyebrow.

“I’d call the biggest pile of bullshit I’d ever seen. Be back in a second.” She waved the bra and headed towards the bathroom once more. She swore she saw Kommissar’s eyes darken, but she had to be imaging things.

She quickly changed again, finished her makeup, keeping it light, and stepped back out five minutes later sans another makeup mishap. “Ready to go,” she said, bending down to adjust her converse slightly before standing up again.

Kommissar stood from the bed where she’d been sitting. “Good, come then, little mouse.” She brushed past Beca, squeezing her upper arm before walking out the door.

Beca patted her pockets, making sure she had everything before following. She caught up with Kommissar’s long strides by jogging some more and Jesus she swore she was getting more exercise running through the halls of the hotel than she had this morning. Kommissar smirked down at her.

“Ah the little mouse has to scurry to catch up, how cute.”

“Yeah well, not all of us are Germanic giants, you know.”

“Good, I like you as my tiny mouse.”

Beca shook her head. “You have anywhere in mind to eat. The restaurant on the first floor isn’t that bad and it’s close.”

“I have another idea. It’s still close, though, if you are up for it.”

Beca shrugged. “Sure, slightly adventurous, I’ll take it.”

“Your definition of adventurous is vastly different than my own, but whatever floats your balloon.”

“Uh, floats your boat?”

Kommissar pressed the button for the elevator. “Does it really matter, both do float.”

“Yes, but that isn’t the expression, Miss I-speak-eight-languages.”

“Idioms are so tiresome sometimes.” The doors to the elevator opened and Kommissar stepped through.

Beca followed immediately, ending up closer to Kommissar than she normally would anyone else in such a tight space. Kommissar didn’t seem to mind or notice, pressing the button for the ground floor and stepping back until her butt collided with the rail around the elevator. Beca frowned. The same bar totally hit her in the lower back and hurt when she leaned back. Stupid tall German goddess stature, making her feel small. She was a perfectly respectable five foot two, thank you very much. But then again the difference in height meant that she could climb Kommissar like a tree.

Wow, she really needed to not let her brain do that. She shook herself and Kommissar turned to her just as the elevator door opened on the ground floor. She smiled awkwardly at the other woman and hurried out of the car.

Kommissar, of course, was by her side again in two long strides. “Everything ok?” Her voice was low, accent somehow amplified by the quiet tone.

“Yeah, it’s fine, I just…did the thing where I accidentally insult-compliment you in my head and I had to shake myself to snap out of it?” Beca’s face heated up as she blushed.

Kommissar laughed long and loud, drawing the attention of half the lobby, but it was obvious she didn’t care. Beca blushed all the harder and looked away while trying not to crack a smile. Kommissar stood a minute later, wiping the tears that had accumulated at the corners of her eyes.

“Nice to know I keep you entertained.” Beca shot an embarrassed smile at Kommissar.

“Oh, little mouse, you do. It’s also nice to know that that’s not just a something you do while speaking. I really am in your head, aren’t I?”

Beca looked at the ground. “More than you know.”

Kommissar placed a hand on Beca’s shoulder. “I am the same way.” She kept a serious face for half a second to let Beca know she meant her words before her face softened again. “But I believe I promised you cheese and I can’t keep my little mouse waiting.” Her hand slipped down and found Beca’s, interlacing their fingers before tugging her towards the door of the hotel.

They slipped out into the air, sun shining down still. Beca was glad the weather had held as she turned her head towards the sky, eyes closed, soaking it up for just a second before she snapped out of it again. She turned to Kommissar who was looking at her, eyes soft.

“What?” Beca asked, the blush that had only just faded making a reappearance. How in the world was it that the woman in front of her did shit like this to her.

“Nothing, you are just beautiful, liebling.”

“Oh, um, thank you?”

“Anytime.” Kommissar smiled and tugged them forward again, showing no signs of letting go of Beca’s hand. Beca was totally ok with that, really, even if it was making her heart beat a little irregularly.

Kommissar led them through the streets easily, confident stride never faltering. They made their way away from the more touristy parts of town near most of the hotels into the real heart of Copenhagen. Beca wondered how in the world Kommissar knew Copenhagen like this, but then again Germany was right next door. She’d probably been here before. Or maybe she was just psychic and had read someone from around here’s mind. She wasn’t ruling anything out at this point.

She stopped them outside what looked like a little mom and pop café with sinful smells wafting out of it. Beca’s stomach grumbled again and Kommissar smirked back at her. Beca felt like kissing that look right off the other woman’s face. She looked up at the sky again and prayed for strength. Her brain really didn’t seem to be her own anymore sometimes.

“If you thought the restaurant in the hotel was decent, this will blow you mind. Tell me, little mouse, what dishes did you like there?”

“Uh, the meatball things? And that thing with apples and pork I think? I’ve just been going with whatever the waiter says is good and what google tells me won’t kill me.”

“Mmm, well I believe that I can do better than that. Come.” She tugged Beca into the restaurant.

A woman who was probably in her thirties greeted them and asked something in Danish that Beca understood to probably be something around “How many today?”

Kommissar answered easily, also in Danish. So that was three out of eight languages that Beca knew she spoke. She shivered a little bit at that fact. There was still so much more to find out about Kommissar, but she wanted to figure it out.

The woman led them over to a small table that looked out the big windows in the front. Kommissar thanked the woman and sat down. Beca plopped into the other seat.

“So, German, English, Danish, and?” She tilted her head and cocked an inquisitive eyebrow.

“French, Polish, Danish, Spanish, and Russian. There’s a smattering of Italian and Chinese that I know as well but I’m nowhere near fluent.”

Beca’s mouth dropped a little bit. “Jesus. I barely know German and you just…how?”

Kommissar sat up a bit in her seat, eyes shining it what had to be excitement. “You know German, little mouse?”

"Ein bisschen, nur Kindergartenzeug wirklich."” She shrugged.

“"Selbst davon bin ich beeindruckt, kleine Maus. I can always teach you more.”

Her face scrunched as she tried to understand what Kommissar had just said. “I am…impressed? And I definitely caught little mouse, but.”

“I’m impressed even with that, little mouse,” Kommissar translated.

“Oh, huh, cool.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I’d like that, if you taught me more.”

“Then I will.”

And just like that it’s decided. Beca wondered at how simply some things can be in the middle of something so wholly complicated she doesn’t really understand what’s going on half the time. But whatever happened between the two of them, somehow she knew that this promise of instruction will remain true, and it’s as simple as that.

A waitress appeared from the wings and started speaking in Danish. She looked at Kommissar with wide eyes and hoped to god that she’ll take care of it because she knew literally how to say hi, goodbye, and excuse me in Danish. Then again the waitress probably spoke English, but if she didn’t then she would be screwed.

But then Kommissar spoke for the both of them. Beca knew by the way Kommissar glanced at her, as if checking that it was all right, and by the sheer fact that it didn’t take that man words to order something for only one person. The waitress nodded at Kommissar before disappearing again.

“I ordered for you, I hope you don’t mind,” Kommissar said after a few seconds.

“Actually I totally wanted you to since I know like zero Danish and it’s also really fucking sexy to hear you speak in other languages.” Beca was really almost growing used to the fact that she had no filter around Kommissar. It was bothering her less and less. Maybe that was a sign she was becoming more comfortable around the other woman, or maybe she was just becoming immune to her own stupidity.

One side of Kommissar's mouth pulled up in a smirk sexy enough to kill. "Yes, the same goes for you. I like you speaking my mother tongue."

And of course Beca's mind went straight to the gutter at the mention of tongue. "Glad we're in the same boat then."

The waitress reappeared with two glasses of water. She set them down and smiled before scurrying off again. Beca looked. At Kommissar the whole time, head tilted.

"So you know my name, but what is yours? Surely your name isn't actually Kommissar." Beca's face squinched at the idea.

"It's Mina, well, actually Wilhelmina, but I figure it is quite obvious why I do not go by that. It was my great grandmothers name on my mother's side. Supposedly she was a wonderful woman, not so wonderful a name, however."

"Mina is pretty though. I like it." She liked the way it rolled off her tongue.

Kommissar--Mina, nodded her head. "Thank you. Beca, is it short for Rebecca?"

"Yeah, same thing actually there. It was my Dad's great aunt's name or something. " tradition to name girls after family members once they've died and my mom went with it so. Beca was better all round. Rebecca just sounds so...uptight I guess."

"You make uptight sound like a bad thing. I have been called uptight many a time and yet you still enjoy me, little mouse." Mina smiled and it looked almost flirty.

"That's different. You're uptight in like...I don't know a really uptight sexy teacher who everyone drools over. Rebecca is like old lady with five cats and a hatred of small children uptight."

Mina snorted. "I see your point since I always imagine an old lady in Victorian dress when anyone says Wilhelmina." Her eyes swept over Beca, leaving a trail of tingles in their wake. "Tell me, mouse, do you have a thing for teachers? Must I teach you a rather...intimate lesson?"

An image of Mina dressed in a tight pencil skirt, a white blouse with one too many buttons undone, hair done up in the bun she seemed to always wear, with glasses perched on her nose came to mind. Beca's mouth went super dry. Jesus Christ almighty god. That should be illegal.

Mina laughed, low and smoky and seductive. "You are thinking about it, aren't you?"

"No!" Beca shouted way too quickly for it to actually be true.

"Ah, but your face already tells me it's true."

Beca grumbled under her breath. It so,wasn't fair that Mina could read her so easily and she had a hell of a time figuring anything about the other woman out. Then again when she announced what she was thinking out loud it wasn't really super hard to figure her out.

"Oh come on, it's not like you don't have any fantasies."

"I never said that I didn't, now did I?"

Beca held her breath waiting for Mina to go on.

"But that's for me to know and you to find out."

She almost groaned out loud. Why in the world was she totally crushing on such a big tease? Beca sat back at that. She was crushing on Kommissar, Mina, whatever, that was obvious, but why didn't it feel like that description was enough?

"You retreat inside your head so often, little mouse," Mina said quietly. "What do you think about while you are there?"

"Mostly you, sometimes me, sometimes the Bellas, or Jesse, or life. It just depends." She played with the straw in her water glass. "Half the time I can't tell what you're thinking even a little bit. What do you think of?"

Mina thought for a long second, obviously weighing her words. "You, DSM, home, the things that will after we return home, a great many things, mouse, a great many things."

Beca felt the weight of the topic settle on them. She scrambled around for a way to lighten things up again, but came up empty. What the hell did you even follow something like that with?

"So what's your favorite color? Black? That seems to be all you ever wear." Apparently that was what she followed up with. Ugh she was such a nerd sometimes.

"No, though I do look very good in black, especially black leather." Her eyes sparkled. "I think you've noticed, ja?"

"Ja," she said a bit breathlessly, remembering that pair of leather pants that she had worn to the riff off.

"But my favorite color is actually green. Emerald green. I find it's rather...soothing is the word and it's just a gorgeous color. And yours, little mouse? You also wear a great amount of black."

Beca rolled her eyes. "Because it goes with everything. But orange, not the bright orange, but like the deep orange the leaves turn during fall. I always thought it was the prettiest color of the season." She shrugged and looked out the window. She knew she had started this conversation and yet it still meant a great deal that Mina cared enough to ask. She didn't even think that Jesse had asked during the completely disgustingly cutesy first few months of their relationship. It was such a small thing, and yet it felt bigger. How did you claim to know someone  if you didn't even know their favorite color? Not that Jesse wouldn't care if she told him, but still.

"Our favorite colors clash, how unfortunate." Mina chuckled. "However will we go on in this relationship."

Relationship. Flashes of holding hands, kissing, dancing, cuddling, quiet mornings over coffee, laughing, mundane things that made up life, all of them with Mina, tore through her mind like wildfire. She could feel what the future could hold vividly, and it made something ache in her chest. Beca knew she could have that, but there were things in the way of that happening. And besides, relationship had more than one connotation. She really had to pull it together. She didn’t know what Kommissar wanted out of all of this anyway. She shouldn’t assume.

“I don’t know, they don’t really clash so much. Together they would look like one of those candy pumpkins, though.”

“Ah yes, because that is so much better.” Mina rolled her eyes.

“Hey, those pumpkin things are tasty.”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about, but I can imagine after seeing what American candy is like.” Her nose scrunched in disgust and it was such a cute expression that Beca thought it should be illegal.

“Germany is missing out.”

“No we aren’t. Your palates are so overblown with sugar that you can’t really appreciate anything as it is. Chocolate, for example. It seems America almost has a phobia of dark chocolate. Instead it’s the over processed milk chocolate that you all love.” She poked the tip of her tongue out of her mouth, making a face, before composing herself once more.

“Oh come on, milk chocolate is so good. You can’t tell me you don’t like it.”

Mina shrugged. “I like it in small quantities, but dark chocolate is better. The darker the better, really.”

“Like your soul?” Beca’s eyes widened at that. Well, that was actually an insult now that she didn’t want to insult the other woman. Jesus, what was wrong with her.

Thankfully, Mina just laughed. “I believe a few people in DSM would agree with that assessment.”

“They don’t like your leadership?”

“Nein, too strict, too totalitarian for them. They are short sighted since they like to win a great deal and we are only as good as the work we put in. They want to have less practices, goof off during the ones we do have, and the like. Being a woman leader is…tough in a mixed group and so I am strict, but they say I suck the fun out of everything.” She laughed once. “We shall see how fun it is when next year they are without me and they do not well as they are used to.”

Beca nodded. She understood that to an extent since she’d been in charge of the Bellas for the last three years. She was on the end of a fair amount of whining, especially at the end of hours long practices. But then again she was friends with all the Bellas and so it was easier to snap them into shape again. Or more accurately look at Chloe and she would snap them back into shape again. Her best friend was rather effective when she wanted to be and didn’t stress over every little thing.

“They’ll learn then. DSM was really great this year, that first time we saw you at the car show I was amazed. They’re idiots if they think they can do what you do.”

Mina smiled softly. “Thank you, little mouse, your compliments mean a lot.”

The conversation paused as the waitress brought out their food. There were a plate of the meatballs that Beca had mentioned, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, and the apple and pork dish she’d mention too. Except unlike the hotel’s restaurant, the food here smelled so fucking heavenly Beca felt like diving face first into the plate in front of her and not coming up for air until all of it was gone.

“I figured that we could share everything because you need to taste what real Danish food tastes like, do you mind?” Kommissar arched an eyebrow.

“Not at all.” She had her fork in her hand before she blinked. She needed to slow down and not make a complete fool of herself by stuffing her face and looking like a complete pig, but damn she was hungry.

Mina smirked at her like she knew exactly what was going through Beca’s head as she picked up her own silverware. “Then dig in, try the meat balls first, they are lovely.”

Beca really didn’t need to be told twice. She sliced off a piece and brought it up to her mouth. A rather not fit for public consumption moan left her lips as the food hit her tongue. Holy shit, the stuff tasted even better than it smelled. She didn’t know how it was possible. She looked at Mina again to tell her that it was wonderful, but she froze for a second. Kommissar’s cheeks were actually pink. She was actually blushing. And Beca had done that. She felt like laughing giddily. She’d actually affected the other woman for once.

“It’s really good,” Beca said, glancing down at the food again and slicing off another piece.

“I’m glad you approve.” Mina started to eat spearing a potato and popping it into her mouth. Beca watched her lips wrap around the fork for a long moment before pulling herself together and behaving like a normal human being.

“So you said DSM won’t have you next year. What are your plans now?”

“I’m going to grad school actually to get my Ph.D.”

Beca sat back. “Seriously? In what?”

“Biomedical Engineering.”

She sat back further. “Um, that wasn’t what I was expecting. Like at all. How in the world did you get into acapella?”

“The science minded girl isn’t allowed to sing, little mouse?” Kommissar cocked an eyebrow as she speared a piece of broccoli and brought it up to her mouth, chewing slowly as she waited for Beca’s answer.

“Of course, it’s just, I don’t know, I have met many engineers in my acapella career, you know? They’re usually a little too busy studying or doing awesome science-y things or whatever. The whole singing thing usually attracts the whole art/music major crowd.”

“And if I am also in that crowd as well?”

“What?” Beca was confused. She stuffed another bite of the pork apple dish in her mouth and sighed. It was good too. Jesus above it was a shame she’d probably never be back here again.

“I double majored in undergrad in chemistry and music. I knew that I loved music, but I wanted to go into something science related as a career. That, however, did not mean I couldn’t learn more about music while I was pursuing the science, and so I did.”

Beca shook her head in amazement. “Jesus, how the hell are you even alive right now? Music majors are always super busy when they don’t double major. How the hell did you do it?”

Kommissar shrugged. “I liked what I was studying. It was work, yes, but it was interesting, so it helped.” She laughed. “I won’t say that there weren’t a few semesters around finals week that I wasn’t cursing myself in a few too many languages for the choice, but it worked out in the end.”

“Where are you going for your grad degree, then?”

“Caltech.”

Beca was somehow not surprised, but still her jaw was almost on the floor. Of course the woman in front of her was just that fucking brilliant. “Uh, wow, that’s really impressive. Jesus. I can’t even fathom that. What do you want to do with your degree?”

Kommissar looked away and out the window. She looked far away for a long moment. Beca kept eating quietly, waiting for the other woman to come back to herself. The potatoes were little buttery nuggets of love, so she really didn’t feel the wait.

“I want to do research into technologies that can seek cancer cells out and eliminate them while leaving healthy tissue alone.” She blinked a few times and swallowed. “My sister…a great many years ago my older sister got sick. It is the way of the world. But if I can keep even a few more families from experiencing that pain I think it will be worth it.”

Beca put down her fork and reached out for Mina’s hand. She squeezed it gently. “I’m sorry about your loss. I think you can do it, helping people like that. You’re obviously as smart as you are beautiful which is of the charts, so…” She trailed off as she realized that her compliments weren’t exactly in the right place in this conversation.

Mina squeezed her hand back and laughed quietly, voice a little scratchier than before. “Thank you, little mouse, I appreciate the sentiment. I have hope as well.”

Beca’s hand lingered until Mina drew back carefully and went back to eating. She immediately missed the other woman’s warmth. Things were shifting now. She was finding out more and Mina, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to know more until she knew everything. She didn’t want to let go. Maybe she didn’t have to if Mina was going to be in Pasadena soon. The thought cheered her.

“And you, Beca, what are your plans.”

“Nothing that impressive, but I had an internship with this label this past year. I applied to a position in the LA branch and they hired me. It’s a bottom level position, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Eventually I’ll be a big enough music producer that I’ll have people to listen to a metric fuck ton of demos, but for now I’m that grunt.” She shrugged, smiled, and rolled her eyes.

“We will be near each other, then.” And Mina looked positively excited at the prospect. “Lovely, I will actually know someone in the city.”

“I would have thought a world traveler such as yourself would have been fine with starting out on your own,” Beca teased.

“I was fine with it, yes, but if I do not have to do it, that would be even better, don’t you agree.”

Beca nodded. She felt warm and happy in that moment, thinking about Mina living close enough to visit in a few months. That would be nice, really nice. How in the world had her unlucky ass lucked into that? Did it really matter?

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to trying to find an apartment. It’s going to be a nightmare.”

Mina nodded. “Mmm, yes, try doing that on a TAs salary. It really is a pittance.” She made a disgusted noise. “I predict I’ll have to have roommates hanging from the rafters in order to make it work without starving.”

Beca snorted. “I feel you. Living with strangers is always great. My freshman roommate was a nightmare. I really don’t want a repeat of that.”

“Maybe we should be roommmates, ja?” Mina said, tone light.

“As long as you don’t leave towels on the floor I’m game.”

“Ugh, why in the world would I ever do that?” Mina’s face scrunched adorably.

“Don’t ask me, apparently it’s a thing some people do.”

Beca put down her fork, pleasantly full, with the plates in front of them mostly barren of food. That was lovely. She picked up her glass and took a sip of water.

Mina surveyed Beca for a long second. “I don’t understand why that would bother you, little mouse, to me you don’t seem like the neatest person in the world.”

“Well, I mean, not super neat, but that’s in my own personal spaces. I don’t want to inconvenience someone else with my mess. And bathrooms that are dirty are skeevy so.”

“Skeevy?”

“Freak you out, are disgusting, like that.”

“Ah, I see. I agree.”

The waitress appeared again, setting down the check before grabbing up the plates and walking off. Mina grabbed the check before Beca could even really think about it. She looked at the other woman as Mina flipped it open and stuck her credit card in, before flipping it closed and sitting it on the edge of the table right beside her.

“How much do I owe you?” Beca asked.

Mina shook her head. “No, no, little mouse, my treat.”

“Wait, you don’t have to do that.”

Mina smiled at her. “No, I don’t, but I want to, so let me.”

Beca sighed and sat back, lips turning up at the corners despite her orders to not smile at all. “Fine, I suppose. Thank you, Mina.”

“You’re welcome, liebling.”

Five minutes later they were on the street again walking back towards the hotel. “You have plans with your friends later, ja?” Mina asked, holding on to Beca’s hand once more now that they were out in the open. Beca hadn’t even questioned the other woman grabbing on and tugging her along once more. It just felt right.

“Yeah, we’re going to go see the Danish Royal Theatre and a few other things we haven’t hit yet.”

“Ah, that is a beautiful place. You will like it.” Mina looked at her out of the corner of her eye, face soft and open.

“I hope so.” They continued walking for a minute. “When do you guys fly out?”

“Three days, and you?”

“I think we fly out in three too. I haven’t super checked lately. Chloe is the compulsive planner of the group and she keeps everyone on track. I just follow her and go with the flow seventy-five percent of the time.”

“I see, well that is aptly timed.”

Beca nodded. “When are you moving out to Pasadena?”

“After the summer. My parents want to spend some time with me before I go abroad for obvious reasons. You are moving out there immediately?” Mina turned to look at her more fully as they walked, still somehow managing to dodge obstacles and people in their path perfectly without looking.

She nodded again. “Yeah. I start in like three weeks. I’m hoping I can find a place before that so I don’t have to work and look for an apartment, but we’ll see what happens.”

“I wish you luck.”

“Thanks.” She squeezed Mina’s hand gently.

Another few minutes and they were inside their hotel once more. Beca was full, tired and happy as they walked into the elevator. She wanted to go out with her friends later, but she also super wanted a nap. She wondered how much time she would have before Chloe sent out the cavalry once more. She’d have to text her and figure everything out now that they were back from lunch.

She and Mina walked along the hall until they were outside of Mina’s door once more. Beca stopped and stared up at the other woman, fond expression staring down at her. She smiled back and her thumb started to make small circles on the back of Mina’s hand.

“Thanks for feeding me cheese.” She playfully rolled her eyes.

“It was my pleasure, mouse. I enjoyed our lunch together.”

Beca looked at the ground, face heating up just a bit. She managed to look back up in time to say, “I really did too. A lot. Most fun I’ve had eating lunch in a long time.”

“I feel the same, and I’m glad you had fun. Perhaps I will see you again sometime in the next couple days?” Her eyes were hopeful.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Good.” She reached into Beca’s pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Beca was torn between being offended and horribly turned on. The other woman punched in a few numbers and handed the phone back. “Text me when you are free.”

“Not really proper etiquette to just reach into someone’s pocket, but I’ll let it slid since you’re so damn beautiful it should probably hurt.”

Mina laughed. “Feisty little mouse, as always.” She stepped closer. “Have fun with your friends.” She leaned in, clearly aiming to kiss Beca on the cheek.

Beca’s thoughts raced and the world slowed down. She might regret this decision, she really might, but then again she might regret not making this decision too. And boy, did she really want to give into the impulse, rocketing through her body in that split second.

And so she did. Her head turned at the last second, just enough to catch Mina’s lips with her own. Mina was obviously surprised, freezing up for just a second. But then Beca was moving her lips against the other woman’s and there was still that warm electricity flowing through them that Beca had blamed the alcohol for the last time they had kissed, and Mina was kissing her back, gently, tenderly, and yet so thoroughly that Beca’s head was beginning to spin by the time she pulled back.

Mina stared at her, cheeks flushed, lips shiny and just the barest bit swollen. “My, my, little mouse, don’t you know how to make an exit?”

“Have dinner with me tomorrow,” Beca blurted out in response. “Like a date dinner, not whatever this lunch just was, but it was almost a date, but it wasn’t but whatever. It was really nice anyway and Jesus I need to stop talking.”

Mina looked at her for a long moment. “Your boyfriend?”

Beca opened and closed her mouth for a second. She hadn’t even thought of Jesse since she’d texted him that she wasn’t dead hours ago. Mina had been the single point in her universe. And everything clicked into place with that thought. She wasn’t in love with Jesse, not anymore, and maybe not ever based on how she felt now. But she was pretty sure that she might be falling in love with Mina, as strange and probably foolish as it was to fall for someone you barely knew.

“He’s not going to be a boyfriend for much longer.”

Mina’s hand came up and cupped Beca’s face gently. “Don’t do anything you will regret, liebling.”

“God, your hands are still so soft. Not the point. Anyway, I think if I don’t do it I might regret it more.” She held Mina’s gaze for a long moment, trying to convey with her eyes that she was dead serious.

Mina nodded slowly, breaking eye contact finally. “Ok then, I’ll go to dinner with you.”

Beca’s heart leapt in her chest. She had to suppress the urge to jump around the hallway screaming YES! At the top of her lungs. That was probably not the right reaction after asking out the hottest woman she’d ever met. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t screaming her head off when she got back to her room where no one would ever know that it had happened.

“You plan this date since I took you to lunch.” Kommissar smirked at her and it so wasn’t fair. She was going to have to do some major googling to pull off anything worthwhile, but she didn’t really mind.

“Ok.”

Mina leaned in again and this time Beca let her kiss her cheek. “Text me with details then, liebling.” She turned and inserted her key card and stepped through the door.

Beca put a hand out and stopped her from closing the door just yet. “I don’t remember what liebling means. What is it?” With the way that Mina said it, it had to be an endearment, but what.

“It means darling or love most commonly, little mouse.” She smiled and closed the door with that stupid smirk on her face.

Beca stepped back and she couldn’t quite wait until she got to her room. She let out a rather undignified, happy squeal and shook herself a bit before she managed to get ahold of herself again. She hadn’t really felt like this before, this silly and excitable, but it was nice in a way. She walked back to her room with a huge smile on her face. She had a date to plan.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> German Translations:  
> Ein bisschen, nur Kindergartenzeug wirklich-a little, only kindergarten stuff really
> 
> Not google translate anymore, yay. Thank you kind reviewers for correcting everything.


	6. Chapter 6

She got as far as her room before she froze up again. She saw Jesse’s stuff scattered around the room and swallowed. Yeah, she totally had a date to plan, but before that can really happen she had to break up with Jesse first. And really, she should do that as soon as possible otherwise it wouldn’t really be fair to him. This thing with Mina had turned into a thing that meant something.

Beca pulled out her phone and fired off a text both to Chloe and Jesse, to see where they were. Chloe answered back first, saying they were in the middle of lunch downstairs in the hotel. Jesse answered a minute later saying he was on his way back. She pulled in a deep breath and flopped back on the bed.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long moment. “Jesse, we need to talk when you get back,” she sent. She wanted to throw her phone to the side. Jesse would know what the words ‘we need to talk’ would mean. Anyone who was alive knew those words never actually meant anything good.

Instead she texted Chloe back and asked if they were still going to nap before heading back out for the afternoon. An affirmative answer a second later and Beca threw her phone to the side. She would have time to talk to Jesse, it seemed, which was great but…

Her stomach churned already. What she had said to Mina was true, she would regret this if she didn’t do it, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to hurt Jesse in any way. And she really wasn’t sure if Jesse would be hurt about this or not. Probably, they had been together for the last three years. They’d been through a lot together. They had talked about living together after school ended, talked about a future, talked of maybe getting married and maybe having kids, though those were never definites. Ending something like that wasn’t easy.

She blew out a breath and ran her hands through her hair. God, why in the world was everything so damn complicated? Probably because she was an awkward as fuck acapella nerd who may or may not be bisexual. Really scratch that, she probably was. She’d have to revisit that issue later to be sure, but really, attraction to both men and women was the definition of bisexual so really there was no debate. Unless she was only attracted to Mina. But then there was that whole thing about jokingly going gay for Chloe over the years. Except now it didn’t seem as much of a joke as it used to. Oh my god she needed to stop thinking.

She rubbed her hands over her face and stared up at the ceiling. She stayed like that until the door of her room opened. She sat up just enough to see that Jesse was walking through the door before she flopped back again. He walked up to her with quick strides and stared down at her.

“Becs, what’s going on? You almost gave me a heart attack with that text and then you didn’t reply.” He was visibly worried, face scrunched and eyes a bit wild, but calming now that he saw Beca was at least physically ok.

Beca swallowed. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that, but I mean, it was really the only way to get the point across effectively, I guess.” She glanced at her phone out of the side of her eye. “Next time I’ll make sure to answer you, though. If there is a next time,” she mumbled out the last part.

“Good.” He lifted her legs up and sat down, putting her legs on top of his.

Her throat closed up. It was such a casual gesture, born out of care and an established, comfortable relationship. That she was about to end.

But then there were images of Mina that flashed in her mind, smiling at her, singing, looking at her with such care. Her tongue loosened and she felt like she could breathe again. This would hurt, but it was like ripping off a Band-Aid, it was necessary for the healing process.

“Jesse,” She looked at him before she continued, “you said that we would figure out everything if Kommissar and I ever became something that actually meant something, right?”

“Yeah,” he answered slowly, face scrunching again.

Beca couldn’t hold eye contact anymore. “Well, um, we might need to do that now. I ran into her after I went running and I just started yelling at her in the hall and then she took me into her room so no one would come across us, you know? Well I ripped her a new one and said it was all her fault that I was attracted to her and bunch of other stupid stuff, but afterwards she didn’t blame me at all for anything I said? It was really weird, but I mean, it was nice and then she was hugging me and comforting me and basically I fell asleep in the middle of the conversation almost because I was so tired from not sleeping last night. When I woke up she took me out to lunch, like strictly as friends, but…at the end I didn’t want it to be friends Jesse. I kissed her again and I…it’s something, Jesse. I can’t blame it on alcohol now.”

Jesse laughed, but it was sad, resigned almost. “Oh, so you meant we need to talk like that. Right, can’t say I didn’t see that coming, but I hoped you didn’t mean it that way.”

Beca grimaced. “Yeah, I did. I’m sorry, Jesse, I really don’t want to hurt you, but this came out of nowhere and I just…I want to go after it, you know?”

He shook his head. “It didn’t come out of nowhere, Becs.”

“What do you mean?” Beca pulled her legs off Jesse and sat up, looking at him intently.

“You’ve literally been accidentally flirting with her all year. After you went to that car show all I heard about for a week straight was Kommissar this, Kommissar that. It was two weeks after the riff off. Three weeks before worlds you started up again. And it wasn’t exactly like I stopped hearing about her in-between, there just were other subjects you could actually talk about then.” He shook his head and smiled sadly. “I think you’ve sort of bee in love with her since the first day you saw her. It’s another thing I saw coming. But I hoped it wouldn’t mean anything, you know? Crushes come and go and she is literally smoking hot. I thought that that was it, that she was hot and got under your skin, and nothing really comes of those kind of crushes, you know? At least you have good taste in women.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Mention it even once? I mean that had to get annoying.”

“Because, I didn’t really want to start anything.” He shrugged. “You know how you are, Beca, if I said something and you weren’t ready to hear it yet you would have bit my damn head off and I really didn’t want that. The goal was not to breakup, not force us into it.”

A little flicker of anger tore through Beca. She totally wasn’t like that. Ok, so she was, but she didn’t like being told about it.

Before she could say anything Jesse continued. He scratched the back of his neck and looked away. “Though after a while I kind of stopped coming around because I knew you wouldn’t really see me there. Not just about Kommissar, but when you weren’t about her you were talking about your internship or worlds or literally anyone else. It kind of sucked, you know, to be around but not be noticed.”

“But you still talked to me on the phone and texted me and everything like everything was fine.”

“If you were talking to me on the phone or text messaging me, you at least concentrated on the fact that I was on the other end of the line. I felt like I could actually get in a word edgewise and tell you about my day and everything like that. And then when you would lapse into that ‘it doesn’t matter who I’m talking to, I just need someone to talk at’ thing I could say goodbye or ignore the text or whatever. It wasn’t as bad. I didn’t want either of us to get ripped apart because of jealousy over a thing that wasn’t even real.”

“Jesse, you should have told me. We tell each other everything, even the bad stuff. That was why we worked in the first place. We didn’t judge each other about what we said either. That last part was hard, I know, because I’m stubborn sometimes, but you didn’t even give me a chance to try.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that, but I’m not exactly sure it would have changed anything.”

Beca stared at him until he met her eyes. “I guess we’ll never know, now will we?”

“No, I guess not.”

She sighed. “So where does that leave us? I don’t want to lose you. You are sort of my best friend.” She reached out and shoved him gently.

A slight smile flickered across his face. “Yeah, you’re mine too. Besides Benji, but I know you meant besides Chloe so.” He shrugged. “I mean, we’ve sort of been more friends this entire year than boyfriend and girlfriend, maybe we can try?”

“Will you be honest with me again? Really honest? I mean I keep telling you stuff about Kommissar, that wasn’t exactly easy. If we’re friends, I want that level of honesty back.” Beca swallowed. This wasn’t going horribly, but her stomach was still in knots and she felt her palms sweating.

“I think I can handle it. Though, um, if you could lay off the stuff about Kommissar for a while I’d be grateful. I need some time to get over this before I can really be encouraging again.” Jesse looked at her with a slightly sheepish expression.

“I can handle that.” She punched him in the arm. “Was that that hard?”

“Sort of?” He rubbed his arm, making a face.

“Yeah, well, the truth’s a bitch sometimes.” She fell silent for a long second. And the truth was now, that her and Jesse were really done. She felt like a huge part of herself was ripping away. There was a little piece of her, the one that want to be with Mina, that was trying to replace that old piece, but it wasn’t big enough, not yet, but maybe someday soon. “This was why you were stalling about moving out to LA with me,” she said, suddenly realizing it was true.

He nodded. “That was part of it, the other part was I’m not sure I really want to live in LA. I’ve got some decent job offers on the east coast and that was just more my style. I was going to talk to you about that after worlds and after we got home, but I guess I don’t have to now.”

“No, I guess you don’t. Where have you got offers?”

“A few medium sized businesses. They are all growing and need PR people now. It’s a good stepping stone, you know? Maybe later I can get something somewhere bigger, but you gotta start somewhere.”

She nodded. “That’s great, Jesse. You have to tell me all about it when you pick and what it’s like there.”

He smiled and it was more genuine now. “The same goes for you.”

“I imagine it’s going to be a lot like the internship, but maybe without the crazy boss. Maybe. But I’ll let you know, it is LA.” She snorted.

Jesse looked out at the room. “I guess I should get my stuff out of here, shouldn’t I?”

Beca shrugged. “No hurry, but at some point. I mean we are leaving in like three days so. There is that deadline.”

“Really, Beca, I would have never known,” he deadpanned. The upturn of his lips gave him away the joke. He stood up and started to grab things, piling them on the bed where he’d just been.

“Glad I told you, then.”

He paused in the middle of picking up stuff, a pair of pants dangling from one hand. He looked at Beca for a long moment. “Probably the only thing I’ll ask about this for a while, but how are you guys going to work when she’s in Germany and you aren’t.”

She sat there for a second, debating on answering the question or just brushing it off with a generic remark. “She’s not living in Germany. She’s living in Pasadena and going to get her grad degree at Caltech. It’s like twenty minutes away from LA. I google mapped it.”

“Oh, well, that worked out well for you.”

Beca looked into his eyes. “Yeah, sometimes things work out when they’re supposed to, you know?”

He dropped his eyes and nodded. “Yeah. I think I’ll be happy for you later, but now.” He shrugged and went back to gathering everything.

Jesse finished up quickly, picking up the small pile and looking at Beca. “I’ll see you later. I think we’re all going out with you guys sightseeing later, but I’ll have to check with the guys. God knows with Bumper here.”

Beca snorted. “Yeah, just don’t let him be too douchey to Danish girls.”

“Eh, he’s toned it down a little since actually becoming official with Amy, but I’ll see what I can do.” He moved forward and kissed Beca on the head. “See you.”

“Bye,” she said as she watched him walk out the door.

She stared at the door for another few seconds before reaching for her phone blindly. She pulled up the number that Mina had just given her. She typed in a name and all the relevant info into the contact before pulling up a text message. She looked at the blinking cursor for a while but couldn’t find the words just yet. She wanted to talk to Mina, but what in the world did she even say in a case like this.

Her fingers moved across the keyboard, almost of their own will. “No longer have a boyfriend. I don’t regret it. I feel a little like crap, but I don’t for a second regret it.”

“Then I look forward to our date, little mouse. Better start planning.”

Beca laughed quietly before tossing her phone to the side again. Chloe would come and get her before they went out sightseeing again. Right now she was tired and emotionally drained for the second time that day. She laid back on the bed again and curled up. She was asleep seconds later, dreaming of Mina and sunshine.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a head's up that tomorrow's chapter is either going to be tinnnnny or not existent. I just drove 8 1/2 hours and I start my job tomorrow (paperwork all day so I can get paid, simultaneously exciting and horrid and safety training, that's just horrid) I know y'all are excited for the date, and I am too, but gimme a day.

Beca groaned as loud pounding on the door woke her up. Jesus, what was wrong with people. All she wanted to do was sleep, didn’t they know that?

“Beca Mitchell unless you are dead you need to let me in,” Chloe’s voice called out.

Oh yeah, right, she was supposed to go sightseeing with the Bellas. She hauled herself out of bed and stumbled to the door. Good thing she’d stayed dressed while she was sleeping. All she would need to do is slip on shoes and grab her phone and wallet and she’d be good to go. Chloe couldn’t complain about her tardiness too much at least.

She threw open the door. “Sup, Clo.” She wiped the sleep from her eyes and yawned. “Give me a second and I’ll be good to go.” She motioned for Chloe to come it before she turned and scoured the room for her shoes. She’d just taken them off right before she went to bed, so where in the world did they go?

She finally found them and slipped them on. “So where are we going? Still the royal theatre as planned?”

Chloe nodded. “And Tivoli Gardens if we have the time.”

“Awesome.” She shot up off the bed and grabbed her wallet and phone. She clicked it on to see that it was just past two in the afternoon. Well at least she’d gotten an hour and half or so of sleep. She smiled softly at the text from Mina that told her to have a nice time out with her friends.

She shook herself out of it and looked up at Chloe who had that half-amused half-exasperated look that she always wore when Beca was being lovey-dovey about Jesse. Not that that was often, but still Chloe had a look just for those occasions. She had a feeling that Chloe might be wearing that expression now that she was with Mina.

“Right, sorry, ready to go. Lead on.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and walked out of the door. Beca followed her to the lobby where the rest of the Bellas were already waiting. Fat Amy looked up and shouted across the room, drawing the attention of basically everyone in the area.

“Ey, sleeping beauty awakes. How’s Bloe doing today?”

Beca laughed. “I think we’re good, Amy.” She looked around for the boys but didn’t find them.

“You and lover boy will be separated for a while. They’re off doing whatever it is guys do in a foreign city,” Chloe said, watching her.

“Oh, ok.” Beca felt at once relieved and guilty. Jesse had probably convinced the guys to go with him after they broke up. She could understand the need for space, but still. It probably meant that he was more affected than he let on. She felt like groaning and dragging her hand through her hair, but she felt the eyes of the Bellas on her and knew she couldn’t do that just yet without inviting question.

The group set off for one of the buses running through the city. Her and Chloe took up the rear, Legacy leading the pack with big smile on her face. Beca rolled her eyes fondly at just how eager the girl could be.

“You realize that we’ll probably have to bail the boys out of jail at some point if they keep going off on their own. Bumper will be his normal self somehow and that’ll lead right to jail. You should try to get Jesse to behave. That would take the wind out of Bumper’s sails since Benji would follow him.”

Well, Chloe wasn’t exactly wrong about Bumper possibly leading them straight to jail on accident. “Yeah, well, it’s not exactly my job.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I know, Becs, he’s a grown boy, but still. Jail bail out doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend a vacation.”

“It would make a hell of a story, though.” Beca smile at Chloe.

Chloe laughed and shook her head. “Maybe, but still, if we can avoid it. Besides, Jesse always comes running when you call.”

They reached the bus stop and piled on the bus that stopped a few seconds later. She and Chloe piled into two seats near the front while the rest of the Bellas filled in the rest of the vacancies in groups of two or three. Beca bit her lip and turned to look at her best friend. She had to tell her sometime soon that she had broken up with Jesse and was probably dating Mina, but she wasn’t exactly sure that the middle of a crowded bus was the place to do it.

Chloe noticed her staring. “What’s wrong?” She reached out and smoothed the little creased between Beca’s eyebrows that always appeared when she was upset.

“I, um,” she huffed out a breath. Well, it looked like it was going to be the place even if she really didn’t want it to be. “Jesse wouldn’t exactly come when I called him now.”

“What, why? Are you two fighting? Do I need to knock some sense into him? Like I know he can be stupid, but I didn’t think he’s be super stupid, especially on this trip.”

“No, Chloe, it’s fine, we aren’t fighting. Calm down.” Warmth bloomed in her chest at the protectiveness of her friend. It was nice to know that she cared so much.

“Then what’s going on?”

Beca was thankful that the rest of the Bellas weren’t really near them. She didn’t want them to know right off. “Um, I broke up with him, earlier this afternoon, actually.”

Chloe tilted her head. “Why? You two were nice together. Though I mean the last year or so you guys acted more like friends than actually in a relationship, but that’s beside the point.”

And here’s where it might go a bit badly. Mina wasn’t the competition anymore, and they had won worlds and saved the Bellas, but it might still be weird. “Um, there was sort of someone else in the picture.” She held up her hands before Chloe could say anything. “Neither of us cheated or anything like that.”

Chloe looked her over. “Who then? It has to be you who met someone else. Jesse hasn’t been with anyone enough to really be into them enough to break it off with you. But I can’t really say you have either.”

Beca looked down at the faux leather seat below her. “Uh, yeah, um, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but there’s more of a spark between them and I than there is between me and Jesse. You were right about us acting more like friends in the last year.”

“Ok, but seriously, Beca, who?”

She met Chloe’s eyes. “Kommissar.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “Oh my god.” She hit herself on the forehead. “Of course. I should have seen that one coming. As if your awkward flirting problem wasn’t clue enough.”

Beca blushed. “Yeah, well, I really didn’t super put the pieces together until last night.”

“What happened last night?” Chloe leaned in further, anticipating a good story.

“When you saw her near me at the bar she asked me to dance with her later. You guys all cleared out, oh my god you haven’t told me how that went last night, you totally need to do that, but anyway. She came up to me and asked me to dance again and we danced for a while. A guy came up to us, she told him to shove it and the rest of the time we danced pressed up together and everything to keep anyone else away, and then she kissed me.” She sighed almost dreamily. Jesus, she was not like this, what in the world was Mina doing to her already?

“And that set this all off?”

“Well there was more this morning, but Chloe, you don’t understand. That kiss was…well that stupid cliché of fireworks isn’t so far off.”

“Of course she’s a good kisser. Someone who looks like that would have to be. And yeah, I’ll tell you about last night, but first you tell me about this morning.”

“Well I couldn’t sleep because last night I went and found Jesse after everything that happened because I was guilty that I kissed her. He was cool with it. But I was still feeling crappy and couldn’t sleep all night so when it was light again I went out. When I came back she was in the hall and I started yelling at her. She dragged me into her room and let me have at her and then she comforted _me_ after all that. I fell asleep on top of her after that. Then while you guys were out she took me to lunch and it was the most fun I’ve had on a date in a while and we kissed afterward, and I knew that I sort of had to break up with Jesse because I wanted this thing with her to happen more than anything.”

“Wow, that’s like, such a whirlwind.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me, dude.” Beca collapsed back into the bus window. “I just…I don’t regret it at all. But I mean he is my best friend beside you and as much as he says he expected it, it has to hurt like a son of a bitch. And so I sort of feel like crap, you know?”

Chloe nodded. “I get that, Becs. That’ll go away though.”

“I realize that,” Beca said, exasperation leaking through in her voice. “But that doesn’t make it better right now. Especially since I’m pretty damn sure why he and the other boys are off on their own right now is because we broke up.”

“Beca, if he can’t handle being around you right now, that’s his problem, not yours. He’s a good guy, but sometimes he has the emotional maturity of a five year old. Not that all boys aren’t like that sometimes, but that’s beside the point here. He’ll come back when he stops feeling bad for himself.”

“You make it sound like he’s being a jackass for feeling something.” Beca ran her hand through her hair.

“Not that he feels something, that he’s not mature enough to deal with it instead of running away. Plus, you know, I’m your best friend and I’m always totally on your side, duh.” Chloe shrugged.

“Everyone deserves some time to deal with emotions alone, Chloe.” She rolled her eyes but reached over and hugged Chloe from the side. “But thanks for being my best friend.”

“Of course.” She smiled at Beca, bright and perky as normal.

“Now, you have to tell me about last night. It’ll distract me from the Jesse thing.”

Chloe blushed red enough to match her hair. “Uh, yeah, that experimenting comment, well it came true.”

Beca’s eyes widened. “Seriously?” She held up her hand. “High five, how was it?”

If it was possible, Chloe’s blush deepened just a little bit. “Mind blowing.” She high fived Beca weakly. “We danced for a little while over in a corner, and it got pretty heated quickly. I didn’t know grinding on someone could actually be that arousing. With guys it was nice, but.” She fanned herself. “Yeah, after that we walked back to her hotel and by the time she closed the door she had me pushed up against it, kissing me, and really it went from there.”

“Wow, sounds like a great experiment.” Beca grinned at her best friend, feeling lighter already.

“Uh, what if it wasn’t just experimenting?”

Beca’s grin dropped instantly and she sat forward. “Chloe, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Chloe nodded hesitantly.

Beca couldn’t help it. She laughed. She grabbed Chloe before she could pull away though. “Oh my god, Chlo, all this time both of us have been at least bi and yet we never cashed in on that. Only us.” She squeezed Chloe’s hand. “Seriously though, it’s all cool. Whatever makes you happy makes me happy.”

Chloe relaxed visibly. “Thanks.”

She nudged Chloe with her elbow. “It’s what friends are for. So did you get her number?”

Chloe nodded. “She lives in Belgium, though, so I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to work.” Her eyes widened a bit. “Oh my god, Beca, Kommissar lives in Germany. You guys are going to be so far from each other.”

Beca shook her head. “Nah, she’s moving to the US, actually right outside LA for grad school.”

Chloe squealed. “Oh my god, really? That’s so great. You guys will really actually get to have a go at it.”

Beca blushed as her brain went to the dirty version of those words, instead of the innocent meaning Chloe had meant. Then again, she looked up and there was a slightly evil glint in Chloe’s eyes and a knowing smile, so maybe that comment wasn’t so innocent after all.

Chloe leaned forward a little more and her voice dropped to a whisper that was hard to hear over the rumbling of the bus. “Trust me, Becs, it’s better. Five times, five last night.” She pulled back with a wicked grin.

“You’re horrible.” Beca’s heart was trying to beat out of her chest. Five times with Mina. She would die, there was no way around it. Jesus, though did she want that.

“And you love me, so.”

She nudged Chloe again with her elbow, harder this time. “Yeah, well.”

The bus slowed down and Chloe perked up. “Come on, this is our stop.” She turned and signaled to the rest of the Bellas and a minute later they were all standing on the sidewalk. Chloe quickly counted to make sure that everyone that was supposed to be there was and then they were off, Chloe leading the pack this time. The woman was great with a map, even one that was in Danish.

Chloe turned to her as she shut the map, confident in where they were going, strides eating up the sidewalk. “So, are you guys going on a date?”

“Well, I mean the lunch we had earlier was sort of a date, but yeah, tomorrow night we’re going out. Except this time I have to plan everything. Dude, I have no idea what to do, and I’m freaking out a little bit. I need to google something today and hope that I can get all the planning done. I want it to be perfect for her, you know? She’s already so fucking perfect already.”

“Yeah, you’ve sort of already expressed that, a few times actually. At least we know why she’s in your head.” Chloe snorted. “Why don’t you take her out to dinner and then dancing.”

Beca’s face scrunched up. “I mean, that’s a cool idea and all, but I wanted to do something more original, you know?”

Chloe nodded. “Ok, but if she’s really worth your time she’s going to love anything you do.”

Beca sighed, soft smile appearing on her face. “Yeah, she would, but still. I want to do my best for her.”

“My god, Becs, you’ve already got it bad.” Chloe nudged Beca lightly.

“Shut up.” Beca crossed her arms over her chest.

Chloe saw right through the act. She smiled brightly at Beca. “I’ll start singing Kommissar and Beca sitting in a tree, you know I will.”

Beca rolled her eyes again and huffed. “Fine, fine.” She dropped her arms to her side. “But seriously, Chlo, what am I going to do?”

“Have you looked at a guidebook or anything for ideas?” She started to dig into her purse for one.

“No, but I think she’s been to Denmark enough she’s already been to most of the interesting places. Germany kind of is like a couple hours away.”

“Well she hasn’t done everything with you. It would be different.”

Beca made a frustrated noise. “Yeah, I know, but.” She shook her head. “Keep thinking of idea, Chlo. If nothing else later I’ll have a bunch to pick from, you know?”

“Ok, maybe you’ll see something around that looks interesting while we’re out.” She shrugged.

“Are you going out with the girl from last night while we’re still here?” Beca cocked an eyebrow.

“No, they were leaving this morning. Apparently their semester isn’t over yet.”

“Ah, that sucks.”

“At least I have her number. And snapchat.”

“And we all know what snapchat is for.” Beca snickered.

“Shut up, you’ll totally do it too, don’t lie.” She stuck her tongue out at Beca.

“Fair point.” Beca shut up, face going red as she thought of rather risqué pictures of Mina on her phone. Jesus, the woman was going to kill her. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to give as good as she got. Maybe she’d even get a reaction from Mina. The months between now and August would be long ones, she could already tell.

The arrived at the theatre a couple minutes later. The Bellas all fanned out and in little groups. They spent about an hour there, looking around, reading brochures and everything before they decided they’d had enough. They all walked outside and started towards Tivoli Gardens.

It was only about a fifteen minute walk before they walked into the gardens. Beca’s eyes widened at the sight in front of her. An amusement park right in the middle of a city. Huh, who would have thought. She hadn’t really looked into it, when Chloe said gardens she assumed it was actually a garden. This was anything but.

Chloe ran forward and grabbed a bunch of maps and handed them out to all of the Bellas. Beca took hers, idea already forming in her head. She looked at the sheer amount of stuff to do and the performances listed for the rest of the week on boards around them. There were restaurants all over the place for literally any mood the two of them could be in. And rides. She wondered if Mina liked rollercoasters or if she would be scared of heights. Oh, that was be lovely because there would be no way the other woman would let her know that and she’d go on  the ride and probably end up gripping Beca’s hand. She smiled. Oh and of course carnival games. She was so boss at carnival games. She could totally win Mina one of those stupid cheap stuffed animals.

“Chloe I totally know what I’m doing for the date!” She exclaimed with a smile.

“Wait, what date?” Fat Amy came up to them both and put her arms around their shoulders. “You and Jesse going to go be disgustingly romantic or something?”

Beca swallowed. Well, there went the rest of the Bellas not finding out just yet. She sighed. She supposed this was only fair considering she had kept the internship from all of them for so long.

“Um, not really?” Her voice rose at the end, making what should have been a statement a question.

“I mean, if you’re going on a date, it’s supposed to be romantic. Do you need some butt confidence again to make that happen?”

Beca hurriedly stepped away. “Oh, no I’m really fine thanks. I just mean that, um, it’s not Jesse that I’m going on a date with.”

That made even Amy pause for a minute. “Uh, Beca, I hate to call you out on your diminished mental capacity right now, but, you are dating Jesse. Why would you go on a date with anyone else?”

The best of the Bellas had started to gather around again. Beca swallowed as she felt too many pairs of eyes on her. She looked above them at the what she could see of the sky and tried not to shuffle around too much. Chloe had reacted well to the whole Mina thing, and she thought the Bellas would too, but she really didn’t know and that was freaking her out.

“I’m not dating Jesse anymore. We broke up earlier today.”

“Oh, well, never mind then. We can pretend that diminished mental capacity comment never happened, like we pretend I don’t take a twenty from your purse every week.” Fat Amy shrugged.

But then Legacy stepped forward. “Wait, what, you guys were cool together.” She looked a little bit like a kicked puppy. Jesus who gave the girl the right to have such big brown eyes because that just made it worse.

“Yeah, we’re kind of still cool, just as friends instead. I found someone else and it kind of took off fast, but Jesse knew about it but today when it looked like it actually might be serious I broke it off.”

 The Bellas all nodded, making understanding noises. Beca’s adrenaline levels went down a few levels. Thank god no one had like burnt her at the stake or anything.

“So who’s the lucky…person?” Amy asked, looking at her, head cocked to the side.

Beca caught the pause and the gender neutral switch. Amy had totally figured it out, or at least thought she had. She was perceptive for someone who spent ninety percent of the time ‘sneaking’ around thinking no one knew where she went all the time.

“Yeah, it’s Kommissar, or well, Mina’s her actual name.” She tensed again and waited for the reaction from that statement.

Amy turned to Cynthia-Rose. “Pay up, girl.”

“Aw, man.” Cynthia-Rose dug into her pocket and pulled out her money. “What the hell does twenty bucks equal in kroner anyway?”

“One hundred and thirty six,” Lilly whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Thanks.” Cynthia-Rose counted out the amount and handed it to Amy.

Beca stepped forward again. “Wait, what the hell just happened?”

“Well, Cynthia-Rose and I made a bet at the beginning of the year, and you, best roomie ever, just won it for me.” Fat Amy did a little awkward dance in the middle of the Bellas.

“What exactly was the bet?” Chloe asked for her.

“Oh, she bet that Beca would end up with you by the end of Worlds and  I said the hot German lady. I mean lesbihonest, you two were going to realize it some time.” Amy shrugged.

“Oh my god, you guys didn’t,” Chloe said, face more than a little unamused.

Cynthia-Rose had the grace to look guilty. “Sorry guys.”

“What, it was just a little bit of fun. You both realized, I made twenty bucks, it’s great for everyone all around.”

Beca frowned. “It’ll be ok, as long as you use that twenty bucks to buy Chloe and I some sort of chocolate coated food.” She looked at Chloe to make sure that was cool.

Chloe held the unamused face for a second longer before nodding. “That’s agreeable.”

“Fine then, let’s go find chocolate coated Danish food.” Amy perked up and her eyes widened. “Last one to the frozen banana stand over there has to sing ‘I Like Big Butts’ at the top of their lungs in the middle of the park.”

Amy took off and the rest of the Bellas behind her. Beca looked and Chloe and shook her head. She would miss this nerd when they all had to split up. She sprinted again suddenly, leaving Chloe in the dust.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Chloe called behind her.

Beca just laughed and continued to sprint, avoiding other park patrons. She felt so much better now. The girls had all accepted that she was with Mina without so much as a blink. They had all smiled at her and nodded while Amy and Cynthia-Rose went about their bet business. It was all she really wished for.

She reached the banana kart just in front of Chloe. She laughed as the other girl finally made it, huffing beside her and glaring daggers. “Cheater.”

“Nah bro, just crafty. Got to have some sort of advantage with these short legs.”

“I’m like an inch taller than you!”

“Oi, Chloe, get to singing, I’ll buy your chocolate banana for you,” Amy said getting into line behind the other Bellas.

Chloe looked to the sky for strength before she walked to the middle of the path and started singing loudly. Three words in Beca was laughing hard enough that she had tears in her eyes. The people around them had hilarious faces on as they walked by. Chloe’s face was beet red, but she was holding the tune nicely.

When she was finally done, Chloe all but ran over to the Bellas and hid her face. “Ok, done, where the hell is the chocolate to make up for that.”

Amy came up to them and handed them each a chocolate covered frozen banana.

“Oh thank god,” Chloe said, taking the banana and downing half in a bite.

Beca took her from Amy. “Thanks.”

“Eh, not a bad use of twenty bucks, really.” She munched on her own banana. “It was worth it to watch that.” She snickered.

Beca rolled her eyes. “Come on guys, let’s see what else we can do.” She started to walk and the rest of the Bellas fell in step with her as they made their way deeper into the park.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the date, but there is a chapter and a bunch of flirting via text. Hope y'all had a better day than I did, and I hope this makes it even better.

Beca collapsed on her hotel bed with a groan. The Bellas had run her ragged through Tivoli Gardens. It had been a complete blast, but Jesus she was tired as fuck. She slipped her shoes off without really moving and curled up in a little ball. She definitely needed to shower before she really went to bed, but she didn’t want to move. Actually, she was pretty sure that moving would kill her.

She pulled her phone from her pocket. Well, as long as she wasn’t moving she could at least tell Mina what was up for tomorrow. It was an efficient use of time, or at least efficient enough to let her not feel guilty about not showering quite yet.

“Hey,” she sent to Mina.

“Hello, little mouse,” Mina sent back not even thirty seconds later.

Beca snorted at that. Of course the woman would be a fast texter on top of everything else perfect about her. Oh well, at least she was Beca’s perfect person now.

Another text popped up. “How was your day with your friends?”

“It was nice. It gave me an idea for our date tomorrow.”

“Oh really?” Beca could practically see the arched eyebrow that went with that text message.

“Yeah :) Do you have anything to do tomorrow at all?”

“No, we have suspended practice until we get back home, so there’s nothing to do besides go out with you.”

“Awesome. Then I can have you to myself the whole day if I wanted?”

“I’m not sure you can handle me the entire day, mouse.”

Beca scoffed. Yeah, she wanted to wipe that smirk right off of Mina’s face. Preferably with her mouth. If she really wanted to Mina’s room was only a few doors down really. Suddenly getting up seemed like a much better option than it had a few minutes before.

“Oh I can handle you for a whole day. The question is can you handle me?”

“You are so tiny I believe it would be no problem to carry you where I may wish for an entire day.”

“Yeah, well, you’re still too big. It would cost a fortune to mail you.” She smiled at the memory of the riff off, taking a new meaning now that her and Mine might actually be getting together. She had been such an awkward loser, but at least Mina had seemed to enjoy it. Still enjoyed it really.

“And just where exactly are you mailing me to tomorrow, feisty mouse?”

“That’s a secret still. Surprises are good for you. But I’ll pick you up at like noon and we can grab lunch first once we get there and then see what else we can get into.”

Beca felt a little bit like squealing at the fact that it was less than twenty-four hours now until she took Mina out. She never thought she’d understand the squealing, over the top, lovesick girls from high school, but now she was at least beginning to see sort of where they were coming from. She’d never had this with Jesse. Then gain the relationship with him hadn’t started with such a bang. IT was more like he wore down her defenses until they were finally together. And she supposed that was romantic in an almost creepy but not quite way, but not as good as her falling in her own time and opening herself up by her own choice. And god, the spark with Mina was just…wow.

“I suppose that is amiable. What sort of dress is appropriate for this ‘mystery date?’”

“Something comfortable that you can walk in. In other words, not those heels you wore to the riff off. Jesus, those things.”

“As if you didn’t stare at my ass because those heels made it look so enticing.”

“I mean, it’s nice even without the heels and I catch myself staring at it a lot, but that’s totally not the point oh my god I can’t even control my babbling while texting. Are you happy with yourself?”

“Yes, I’m very satisfied, little mouse. I could, however, be more satisfied, but that will come all in good time.”

Beca’s face heated up. God, how was it possible that the woman could fluster her so much even without being in the fucking room? She was going to die probably killed by a German goddess, but whatever. It would be worth it.

She, however, had no idea how to respond to that text. She stared at it for a minute before another text from Mina came in and saved her from her misery.

“What, mousey, did I short circuit your brain entirely. Not that it would take much ;)”

“I am completely fine, thank you very much.” No, that winky face hadn’t made her blush all over again or anything. It was fine.

“I’m glad, it would be a shame to have caused you brain damage before our date. I’m looking forward to it, immensely.”

“Me too, more than you know.”

“If you are going to pick me up at noon, then we should sleep. Is it really picking me up if you’re just walking down the hallway, though?”

“It’s an expression, Kommissar. No one takes it that literally except for you :P” And oh god her own sticking out tongue face had her blushing too. Really, how long had it been since she’d gotten laid. She couldn’t remember and that only really led to more thoughts of Mina in bed.

“American idioms are idiotic.”

“From what I recall, German ones aren’t much better.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I do say, wasn’t there one…or maybe like fifty-five idioms about freaking sausage?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “Sure you don’t. Like I don’t have access to google or anything.”

“Sleep, little mouse, it’s good for the both of us.”

“What if I don’t want to stop talking to you?” Beca bit her lip as she waited for the response to that text message.

“Neither do I, but we both want to be awake for this fabulous date and all that comes after, don’t we?”

All that comes after. Ok, she might be sold. Jesus, when had she become a teenage boy? “Alright, fine, but only because I get to see you basically as soon as I wake up.”

“Good, goodnight, liebling.”

She pondered for a name to call Mina, something sweet, though pet names like honey and baby really didn’t fit her. She was a goddess. You couldn’t exactly call a goddess honey boo boo or something like that. It’d be stupid. Well, she did know the word for angel in German. That would have to do. “Night, engel.”

Beca knew that she should get up right then now that she was done talking to Mina, but instead she sat there and read through the text messages they’d just exchanged a few times instead. Chloe was right, she did have it so bad.

 


	9. Chapter 9

For the first time in her life, Beca actually sat up five minutes before her alarm. And she was actually awake. And excited to be up. Really, she’s got it bad if somehow Mina’s made her a morning person who doesn’t snap off people’s head before she’s had her coffee. She shrugged and turned off her alarm, gathering the stuff she’d set out the night before and retreating into the bathroom.

She looked at her hair in the mirror and sighed, relieved. It hadn’t turned into a completely hot mess while she slept. She started to calm down the worst of the mess that was there, running her fingers through it. She stared at herself in the mirror and debated for a second. Did she want to put the extra effort into straightening her hair when she was just going to be riding carnival rides all day? And plus it was Denmark, at some point it would probably rain and ruin the hairdo anyway.

Beca grabbed the can of mousse and sprayed some into her hands, setting her curls into a manageable wave that hopefully wouldn’t poof up like some sort of white girl afro. Which was more like Chewbacca sitting on her god damn head instead of a nice, cute, poof ball of gorgeous hair.

She started on her makeup just as her phone buzzed on the counter. She looked over  as she smoothed on the concealer. Mina had texted her. She wiped her fingers on a tissue and swiped to open the text message.

“Good morning, little mouse,” the message read.

“Morning, beautiful.”

She’d gotten on her foundation before the next message came. “I didn’t think you would be awake. I thought you would be the sort to wake up at the last possible second.”

“Normally, you’d be right, but today I got up before my alarm. Seems I was too excited to go on a date with a certain someone.”

Eyeliner was of the devil, Beca was sure. It took her three tries to actually get the wings even. This was totally why she only really did eyeshadow normally. She looked down at her phone and sure enough in the eternity it had taken to get everything right, Mina had text her.

“I find myself excited as well.”

Beca felt warmth blossom within her. She couldn’t quite believe just yet that such a gorgeous woman wanted to go on a date with her, but she was pretty sure if she pinched herself it wouldn’t be a dream. She wasn’t going to pinch herself just in case, but the point still stood.

She bit her lip and set her phone down again. She had half an hour before she said that she’d pick up Mina, and she still had her eyeshadow and lipstick to do and she still had to get dressed, though her clothes were laid out so she was really ok on time. But she was still anxious to get to Mina.

Beca went as fast as she could through the rest of her preparations while still making sure that she looked perfect. She looked in the mirror once her clothes were on and nodded. She didn’t look bad. She released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Now all there was was the actual date.

She picked up her phone and looked at the time. If she left now she’d be a couple minutes early. She bit her lip. Was arriving too early a bad thing? Would she look to eager? Or would she look like she was looking forward to the day, which she totally was. But hwat if she looked like a complete nerd?

Fuck it. She grabbed her stuff and walked out of the door and to Mina’s room, strides as long as her short legs could manage. She hesitated for only a second before she knocked on Mina’s door. Half a second later the door opened. If Beca had to guess Mina was totally waiting for her. A smile found its way onto her face at that.

“Hello, tiny mouse. Ready for our date?”

Beca lost all capability of speech for a good thirty seconds, looking at Mina, up and down and then all over again. The woman was dressed casually in a black t-shirt that clung to her fit figure, a pair of jeans that Beca swore she could almost see Mina’s muscles move through, a pair of running shoes, black with rainbow stripes across the insoles. At least she had taken Beca’s advice and worn practical shoes. She looked at Mina’s face and the hair that was gently flowing around her shoulders in loose curls. Her lips were bright red as usual and a light smattering of makeup covered the rest of her face. She looked absolutely breathtaking.

“Totally, the question is, are you?” Beca finally managed to ask, shaking herself out of it.

Mina rolled her eyes and stepped out of the room. “Of course, you said noon. Germans aren’t exactly known for being late.” She poked Beca gently on the tip of her nose.

Beca caught Mina’s hand and brought it down between them, lacing their fingers together. “One of these days you won’t be so perfect.”

“Perhaps, but you’ll have to stick around to see, won’t you.” Mina cocked an eyebrow.

“I plan on it.”

They stared at each other for a few long seconds, something undefinable passing between them. Beca broke the moment after a minute.

“Come on, lunch is my treat today.” She tugged Mina by their joined hands towards the elevator.

“Are you telling me where we are going yet?” Mina asked, drawing even with her easily.

“I think you’ll figure it out once we’re on the bus. You’re the one who speaks Danish, after all.” Beca looked up at the other woman, smirk on her face.

“Americans and their need for useless drama.” Mina rolled her eyes again. Beca wondered just how many times Mina could roll her eyes at something she said before they would just roll out of her head. But then that would be a shame, they were such a pretty shade of light blue.

“You can’t just not like surprises. Surprises are great. Like Christmas gifts. They’re better if you don’t know what they are.”

Mina shook her head. “No, I enjoy knowing that whatever I am getting, I will like. Grandmothers who send bunny suits.” She shivered.

Beca’s face scrunched as she pressed the button for the elevator. “Wait, are you referencing “A Christmas Story” right now?”

“If that is the movie where the little boy wants the BB gun, then yes, I am.”

“Wait, how come you’ve seen that? I only saw that like last year when Jesse practically had to bribe me to watch it.”

“It came out over twenty years ago. It does not take that long for American movies to make their way to Germany, or did you think we lived in a cultural vacuum where everything was beer and sausage?” And there was that damn smirk again that had Beca melting a bit in her practical converse sneakers.

“No!” she said a bit too quickly.

Mina laughed. “Ah, you are so convincing, little mouse.” She tugged them onto the elevator.

“Fine, whatever, America isn’t exactly big on multiculturalism. So sue me.” She pressed the button for the ground floor.

Mina pulled Beca into her side. “That would be a long and drawn out process. I don’t think I would want to do that.”

Beca glared at her. “Oh, so that’s the only thing stopping you.”

“That, and you’re such a cute little feisty mouse.” Her eyes flickered up to the floor number the elevator was displaying. She smirked for half a second before turning back to Beca and leaning down slowly.

Beca met her halfway, kissing her softly, sighing into the kiss. It felt so right. Warm, and soft, with underlying fire, and everything a kiss should be. The elevator dinged, announcing they were on the ground floor. She pulled away reluctantly and watched as Mina’s eyelashes fluttered open and Jesus, did anyone need eyelashes that long? But god, it was a wonderful sight.

Mina pulled them out of the elevator the next second and stopped a few seconds away. “Come, little mouse, guide us to wherever we need to be.”

Beca gladly took the lead, stilling holding firmly onto Mina’s hand. The woman had to use some sort of fabulously expensive lotion to make her hands that soft, but as long as she got to benefit from it, that was fine. Her thumb started to trace nonsensical patterns on the back of Mina’s hand. She felt on top of the world when she felt the slight shiver run through the other woman. So she could affect her. Score!

She led them to the bus stop and Mina looked around, with a slight frown on her face, concentrating. “The seventeen bus?”

“Mhm,” Beca hummed. She could practically see the cogs turning in Mina’s head as she listed everything that she knew was on the bus’s route. Which was totally why Beca had picked a bus that let off a couple of blocks from where their true destination was. She really did want this to be as much of a surprise as possible. Plus, if she got to walk holding Mina’s hand for a little longer, well, that was beside the point.

Mina looked back at her. “You’re a very strange woman.”

“Yeah, but I’m your woman.” She barely even reacted to the unintentional babble anymore. She just smiled a bit sheepishly and shrugged. It was basically true.

“I suppose you are.” The smile Mina sent her was soft and warm.

The bus pulled up a second later and they both climbed on, quickly finding seats. Beca watched Mina as the city passed them by as the bus trundled on. She looked out on the people and streets going by with sharp blue eyes. Beca got the feeling that she missed relatively little.

“You know, mouse, most cultures consider staring rude,” Mina said without turning.

Beca was a little freaked out before she remembered that peripheral vision was a thing. Right, Mina scrambled her brain like eggs. It was fine.

“Are humans supposed to be able to take their eyes off of angels?” She wanted to jump up and down that one of her flirty comments had actually been uttered on purpose for once.

Mina chuckled and squeezed Beca’s hand. “Perhaps not. But little mice are quite distracting too.”

They rode the rest of the way, trading glances and smiles until Beca pulled them both up at their stop. Again, Kommissar looked around and tried to figure out just where they were going, but after a second she just turned back to Beca, a questioning eyebrow raised.

“I honestly thought you would have figured it out by now,” she teased as she pulled them towards the entrance of Tivoli Gardens.

“Contrary to popular belief I am not actually a robot.”

“Never thought you were, but you are going to freaking Caltech in the fall and you speak eight languages so. You’re kind of basically a genius.”

They were a block away from the gardens before the first screams of joy reached their ears. Mina perked up and slapped her forehead with the heel of her palm. “Of course. Tivoli Gardens.”

Beca nodded. “Yup.” She popped her lips on the last p sound.

Mina turned to Beca and shook her head. “Sneaky little mouse, making us take a different bus just so I wouldn’t guess.” She nudged Beca gently in the side.

“Like I said, surprises are good.”

Mina rolled her eyes. “We can agree to disagree on that point.”

“I’ll convince you eventually. Maybe you just haven’t had the right person surprising you.”

“Perhaps.” Mina looked down with a fond expression on her face.

They made their way to the admission booth. Mina pulled out her wallet, but Beca stole it from her and pocketed it. Mina shot her a half skeptical, half slightly offended look.

“Nope, it’s a date and it’s one I planned. I’m paying. Also Jesus, what is in your wallet it weighs like five pounds?”

“Euros, mouse, I have a lot of change. It is the way of things.” She shrugged. “I’ll agree to you paying for the tickets if you let me pay for lunch.” Mina crossed her arms over her chest.

Beca ordered the tickets and ride passes and turned to look at Mina while the girl behind the counter made change. “And what if I don’t agree? You did pay for lunch yesterday.”

Mina shot her an annoyed look. “And the tickets you just paid for more than made that up.” She took the wristband that Beca handed her.

“Ok, if it makes you feel better, you can get lunch then.” Beca shrugged. “Really, though, I’m cool with paying. I want to treat you, you know? Date sort of things.”

Mina softened a bit at that. “Yes, but I would like to do the same.”

“You could always do that in the future, you know.”

“Confident that this will continue, aren’t we little mouse.”

Beca looked away, heat rising to her face. “Yeah, well, aren’t you?”

Mina draped her arm around Beca’s shoulders. “I might be.” She leaned down and kissed the crown of Beca’s head. “Come, let us go grab lunch before we get into any sort of shenanigans. What an odd word.” She shook her head.

“Dude, don’t even play. German literally just shoves words together to make new words. They don’t even have to make sense. And you’re calling shenanigans a weird word.” She jostled Mina a bit, careful to make sure Mina’s arm stayed right where it was. She felt safe with Mina holding her lightly like this.

“At least German follows a set list of rules without a myriad of exceptions. English is like some sort of Frankenstein’s monster put together from the pieces of so many languages it ceases to actually make sense. God even knows why the world decided that it was the common language.”

Well, Mina did have a point about that. “Don’t ask me. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.”

Mina snorted, guiding them around slow moving families and people standing randomly in the middle of the road. “Right, no, native speakers are worse about breaking any rules that English might have than those who are learning. And you cannot say anything about that because most of what comes out of your mouth is slang and syntax that isn’t technically grammatically correct but is accepted as right anyway.”

Beca opened her mouth to deny that, but stopped. “Yeah, well, I’m sure you don’t exactly follow the rules in German either.” She shrugged. “It’s like native language privilege or something.”

“Well, you’ll just have to get better at German to find out, ja?”

“Ja, das werde ich auf jeden Fall tun.” She cocked an eyebrow in challenge.

Mina smirked. “Ah, kleine Maus, ich mag es wenn du so entschlossen bist. Das ist wirklich süß.”

“Hey! I’m not cute. Or I am, but not in the condescending way or whatever. And that smirk totally says condescension. Like I think you have that look down to an art or something.”

“Who says I mean it condescendingly? You are very cute, tiny and cute, feisty mouse.”

“Yeah, well, at least I’m never in danger of hitting my head off of doorways or anything.” She pouted for a second and then straightened out her face. She was a grown woman. Grown woman did not pout on dates damn it.

Mina laughed. “I actually have done that in a few medieval castles. Not pleasant experiences, especially not the time I almost fell down a flight of stairs because of it. Pieter caught me, thank god.”

Beca gasped. “Wait, what, really?”

“Well, yes. They were much shorted in the middle ages. Very few people were almost six feet tall and doorways were built accordingly.”

“Jeez, sorry.”

“It was nothing, mouse, though it might have been something if Pieter hadn’t caught me, but the other times were minor annoyances. At least I can reach the highest shelves.” She smirked down at Beca. She turned them slightly towards a restaurant.

Beca recognized the word Italian and images of “The Lady and the Tramp” popped up in her head. Jesse had introduced her to more movies than she thought if she had two different movie references in one conversation. But the image of kissing Mina at the end of a string of spaghetti would not get out of her head. It was too cheesy and cute and Jesus above she needed to get ahold of herself.

“Yeah, well, I can always climb on stuff to reach things. You can’t magically get any shorter.”

Mina dropped her arm and crouched down to Beca’s level. “Are you so sure about that?”

“That doesn’t count!”

“Then climbing on the counter doesn’t count either, little mouse.”

She huffed. “Fine, but anytime I need something on a high shelf you’ve now volunteered to get it.”

“If I am around, then that is an amiable solution.” Mina stood up and led them the rest of the way to the restaurant.

Beca stood back as Mina communicated with the restaurant staff. She knew that most of the employees around here spoke English from yesterday’s adventure with the Bellas, but Mina might as well get some use out of the fact that she spoke Danish while she was in Denmark. They were led to a little corner table out of the way of most of the restaurant. Beca smiled at the placement. It was about as close to romantic as they were going to get in the middle of an amusement park.

Mina stood behind a chair and pulled it out for Beca. Beca shook her head and shot Mina an incredulous look. “Seriously?”

Mina just smirked and nodded for Beca to sit. She laughed once and sat. The other woman pushed her chair in and went to sit down on the other side of the table. The sun hit Mina’s hair and eyes just right for an instant and she truly looked like an angel in that moment. Beca’s breath caught in her throat. Holy shit. How in the world was Mina even possible?

She shook herself and snapped out of it. “Oh my hero,” she said in an affected, over the top southern accent. “How would I have ever survived without you?”

Mina’s face scrunched and she tilted her head, confused. “Why are you speaking like that, little mouse?”

Beca switched back to her normal speech patterns. “It’s a southern accent, specifically a really bad rendition of a Southern Belle accent. It’s sort of associated with women who were delicate little flowers that couldn’t do anything without a man. Stupid association, but.” She shrugged.

“Yeah, I heard something like that while DSM was on tour. Strange place the south.”

Beca laughed. “Yeah, most people think that. I can’t really say they’re wrong.”

A waiter appeared. “What can I get you ladies?” he said, voiced slightly accented. Danish accents were so odd, they sounded like British mixed with American with something uniquely Danish thrown in there for kicks. It almost wasn’t an accent at all.

The both of them ordered water and the waiter went off.

“The pizza here is good. If I remember the tour right all of America was rather obsessed with pizza.”

“Who isn’t at least a little bit obsessed with pizza?” Beca immediately flipped to the section of the menu that listed the pizza selections. It wasn’t actually the American bastardization of pizza, but more Italian style. Beca licked her lips. Wonderful.

“It is ok, not my favorite part of Italian cuisine.”

Beca’s head shot up. “What?”

Mina shrugged. “I like pasta more.”

“Oh my god, like pasta is great, but good pizza is better than sex.”

Mina’s eyes darkened. “Perhaps you haven’t been having good enough sex.”

And Beca’s mind was gone again in an instant, images of Mina under her, over her, gloriously naked, invaded her mind. It so totally wasn’t fair that the woman knew just what to say to make her lose all coherency.

“That point aside,” Beca managed after a few seconds. “I finally found something about you that isn’t perfect.”

Mina laughed. “I’m sure that that is a matter of opinion on your part, but if it makes you feel better, little mouse.”

Beca scowled. “You’re going to be a broke grad student in a couple months. You’ll live off of pizza soon.”

Mina shook her head. “No, why would I do that. I can cook perfectly well.”

Oh my god, the points in the perfect area kept mounting up and all Beca had on her was that she didn’t like pizza as much as pasta. She was doomed. But really that was ok.

“I can bake, not really cook.” She looked away and bit her lip.

“We’d make a good team, then. I’m the opposite. You would think I would be wonderful at it, since baking is just chemistry practically applied, but yet I can’t for the life of me get cookies to taste right. Or at least as good as others.”

“When you’re in LA I’ll make sure to make you cookies for your late night study sessions.” She could almost imagine it now, delivering Mina a basket of cookies the Friday before midterms. Mina would have her hair up in a messy bun, in sweats, glasses on the tip of her nose, and looking tired, but she would smile so brightly at Beca. She sighed and smiled.

“Where did you just go, little mouse?”

Beca jumped a bit as she came back to the present. “Oh, uh, I might have been imagining delivering you cookies?”

“Was I naked? Was that why you had such a look on your face.”

Beca blushed hard even though that totally wasn’t true. She was imagining that now though. “No, actually, you were, uh, about to go study for midterms so you were like in sweats and stuff. You looked cute.”

Mina smiled that soft smile again. “Oh, I see.”

“Yeah,” Beca drew the word out. She rubbed the back of her neck. How was it that a six foot tall Goddess could also be the cutest thing alive?

The waiter appeared again, set their water glasses down and took out his order pad. “Do you know what you want to eat?”

Beca looked at Mina who nodded. She nodded back and looked down to find what she’d wanted again.

Mina ordered it what sounded like a flawless Italian accent. “I want the Tagliatella Primaverile.”

The waiter nodded and scribbled that down before turning to Beca.

“Um, I want the Salami e Peperoni pizza.” Beside Mina’s flawless pronunciation she felt like the ridiculous, uncultured American. Which basically she was, but she didn’t like actually feeling like that.

Mina regarded her for a few seconds after the waiter left before speaking. “So, little mouse, how did you get into a capella?”

Beca laughed. “That’s sort of a funny story, really.” It involved a completely naked Chloe which was going to be a little hard to explain since Mina didn’t know Chloe and know that was totally something she would do when she was on one of her determined streaks, but she’d try her best.

“I actually didn’t want to go to college. I thought that the best way to get into music producing was to focus everything on becoming a DJ and breaking in that way. My dad was a college professor at Barden and basically struck a bargain with me that if I went for a semester and hated it he’d support me with the DJ thing. Later he said I had to get involved, and the Bellas were sort of desperate for new members. Chloe heard me singing in the shower and burst in and told me to join. It was a little freaky, but I sort of decided why the hell not. It got my Dad off my back. And then I actually ended up loving the girls, if after a lot of fighting with the leader at the time, but it worked out in the end.”

Mina laughed. “She walked in on you in the shower?”

“Yeah, Chloe’s sort of single minded sometimes. She’s an awesome friend to have though. If you need help getting something done she’s like on it like Donkey Kong.”

“Donkey Kong?”

“Idiom, means she’s completely on top of it with enthusiasm.”

Mina rolled her eyes. “I don’t see what Donkey Kong has to do with that.”

Beca squinted a bit. “You know, neither do I.” She shrugged. “I think it originated on the internet or something, which could explain the weirdness.”

“Or that it’s just American.”

Beca threw her balled up straw paper at Mina. “Hush woman, not everything American is terrible.”

“Name one thing.”

“Airplanes.”                                   

Mina bobbed her head to the side. “Fair enough.”

There was a pause for a second before Beca asked, “So, I know you were a music major, but why a capella?”

“I enjoyed that it was purely singing, no instruments, accompaniment, anything, just people, and yet it could sound just as well. Also the dancing that all modern a capella groups do was a draw. I like the physicality of it. It was much more exciting that just standing in choir robes and singing. I also did a great lot of that, as well, but DSM was what I did for fun.”

Beca nodded. “Makes sense. I always liked mixing the songs best, but then again since the whole music producer thing, that was sort of expected.”

“Pieter was in charge of that for DSM. I mostly served as the leader to whip everyone into shape, but I did help him when he asked. Choreography was Emma’s specialty.”

“Emma?”

“The dark haired girl that was by my side a lot.”

Beca thought for a minute before a face came to her, dark hair, dark eyes, half a foot shorter than Mina. “Oh, that girl, ok.”

“Yes, she had a dance background, so it made sense.”

“So you like music, cooking and science. What else do you like?” Beca asked.

“I enjoy reading, hiking, I used to fence, but I’ve been short on time because of worlds and haven’t done that in a while, I’m completely horrible at drawing, but I still do it from time to time if my brain needs a break.” Mina paused for a second. “That’s really all I can think of off of the top of my head. And you mouse?”

“I don’t know. I like hanging out with the Bellas a lot, and I may watch more than my fair share of cat videos on youtube. I kind of really want a cat when I get settled out in LA if the people I’m rooming with are chill with it. I cross stitch for the same reason you draw, also it’s something to do while I watch shows on Netflix. I live on Netflix more than I should.”

“What shows do you watch?” Mina sat forward, propping her elbows on the table in front of her.

“Um, really what haven’t I watched is a better question? I really don’t care what I watch as long as it’s distracting. I just finished Parks and Rec, before that it was Doctor Who, and there was The West Wing in there somewhere.”

“Game of Thrones?”

“That isn’t on Netflix, but I’ve seen it. I’m totally rooting for Daenerys.”

“I’m fond of Cersei myself.”

Beca laughed. “Oh really, no similarity there at all.”

Mina smirked. “I do like beer better than wine.”

“You’re German, that’s expected.”

“Exactly.”

“You watch any other American or British shows?”

“Not especially, there wasn’t a great deal of time between both my majors and DSM.”

“I get you.”

The waiter appeared again with their food. Beca caught a whiff of cheese and garlic and sighed. It smelled sinful.

Beca picked up the first piece of pizza and bit into it as Mina mixed up her pasta. There was silence for a few minutes as they set to eating.

“You really know how to pick restaurants,” Beca said, swallowing a bite.

“I’m glad you think so, little mouse. Mostly it’s trial and error. I try out a fair amount of restaurants and go back to the ones I was impressed with. Also, internet reviews do help in that selection.”

“So basically when you get to LA you’re going to scour the restaurant scene until you find ones you like?”

“Mhm,” Mina hummed around a bite of pasta.

“You totally have to tell me which ones are awesome. I kind of settle for good food when there’s like super great food out there.” She stuffed another bite of pizza in her mouth. She probably looked like a hamster with her cheeks full, but whatever. It was good enough she didn’t care. Hopefully Mina thought her eating habits were cute too.

“I was thinking perhaps we could find out together?” Mina looked up through her eyelashes at Beca, suddenly a bit shy.

Beca smiled at her. “Now who’s confident? But yeah, I’d like that, a lot.”

Mina extended her hand on the table, palm up. Beca took it a second later and smiled brighter. She felt better when she was touching Mina. Yeah, she totally had it bad. She had a feeling that that realization was going to keep hitting her throughout the day. Maybe throughout the rest of her life. Whatever worked.

“I’m glad.” Mina squeezed her hand.

Another few bites passed in silence, with both of them smiling at the other. Beca didn’t think there was anything in the world prettier than Mina’s smile.

“So, another first date question. Favorite movie? Though if it’s a German movie I’m totally not going to know it. I barely know American movies. I really only started watching them four years ago at the beginning of college.”

Two spots of color bloomed on Mina’s cheeks, but her face never lost that self-assured look she always wore. “I like sci-fi and fantasy movies. Right now I’m rather fond of Maleficent. It was a wonderful retelling and I was fond of how focused it was on female relationships and how important they are, that the villain actually got a real back story, that was only a plus.”

“I didn’t see that one, but it did look good. Maybe we can watch it together in a few months.”

Mina lit up. “Yes, I think that’s a wonderful idea. And yours, mouse?”

Beca pursed her lips in thought. “Not sure. I really like superhero movies, but I think I’d like them even better if they would actually make a Black Widow movie. She’s totally my favorite. Then again I think it helps that Scarlett Johansen plays her, but that’s really only a plus. Her character is just so kick ass and layered…when she’s done right anyway.”

“Well written women characters are sometimes hard to find.”

“Yeah.” Beca put down her last piece of pizza and pushed the plate away. She was stuffed. Unless dessert was involved. There was totally always room for chocolate or whatever other form of sugar.

“There was a time when I thought about being a writer, but never very seriously. Science was where my heart truly was. I do want to help people and I think I’m better suited to help this way.”

“I can see you as a scientist more, not that I think you’d been any less perfect as a writer, but, I don’t know, just a vibe?”

“I understand what you mean, little mouse. Some people just seem more suited personality wise to a profession.”

Beca nodded.

Mina pushed her plate away, and like magic the waiter appeared. “Anything else you ladies need, perhaps dessert?”

Mina looked at Beca and cocked an eyebrow. “Tiramisu?”

“Yes,” Beca answered without any hesitation.

Mina laughed before turning back to the waiter. “We’ll split a piece of tiramisu then.”

“I’ll be right back then.” He grabbed their plates and walked away.

“Favorite dessert?” Mina asked.

“Like, what is my favorite dessert or is tiramisu my favorite dessert?” Beca asked.

“Really, aren’t those two things basically the same question?”

“Well, true, anyway, there’s this chocolate cake I make, it’s got like fifteen tons of chocolate in it, and chocolate liqueur on top of all that with chocolate frosting just because. It’s like sugar death on a plate, but god it’s so good.”  

“That sounds sinful.”

“It is, oh my god.” She was practically drooling thinking about it.

“I’m more partial to fruit based desserts, but chocolate is always appreciated.”

“Oh, there are these one things Stacy makes, they’re strawberry tarts, but the crust is chocolate, they’re the best of both worlds. I need to ask her for the recipe at some point before we all scatter to the wind.” Beca frowned thinking about that. She knew it was a reality, but it was still weird to think about after all this time of being with them.

“Life does change rather quickly.”

Beca nodded. Yeah, it did. She looked up at Mina. But maybe sometimes that didn’t have to be such a crappy thing.

The waiter showed up again and set the tiramisu in front of them, presenting them both with forks. He placed the bill on the edge of the table. “There’s no hurry, but I’ll be your cashier whenever you’re ready.”

Mina immediately grabbed it up and put the appropriate amount in before setting it aside again and picked up her fork again. Beca watched as she took the first bite of the dessert and bring it up to her mouth. She swallowed hard as her lips wrapped around the fork and really she had to stop watching Mina while she ate or she was going to have some sort of arousal induced heart attack and wasn’t that a dumb way to die.

She stuck her fork out and grabbed a bite. Jesus, the dessert was just as good as the pizza had been. She felt like she was going to have to run three times as much just to burn off the one bite, which was exactly how she liked it. She hummed and immediately went for another bite.

“Good?” Mina asked.

“God, yes.”

Mina laughed as she speared another piece onto her fork. “Coffee is a wonderful thing.”

“Yeah, I really don’t wake up well without it. Except for today, but that was an outlier. You’re totally one of those people that can hop right out of bed in the morning, aren’t you?”

“Do I get up when my alarm tell me to without hitting snooze? Yes. But do I wake up at six in the morning naturally, no.”

“Thank god. Morning people are just, no. Though seriously, how do you not hit the snooze?”

“I could, but once I’m up, I’m up.”

Beca shook her head. “Yeah, I don’t have that problem. At all.” There was only one bite left of the tiramisu. Beca glanced up at Mina. “You can have the last bite.”

Mina smiled. “Thank you, little mouse.” She popped the last bite in her mouth.

The waiter came by a minute later and swept up the billfold, returning a few moments later with the change. Mina stuffed the change back in her wallet and looked back at Beca.

“Shall we little mouse? I’m sure you have more planned for this date, ja?”

“Ja, indeed.” She stood.

Mina followed suit and they both walked out of the restaurant into the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> German Translations:  
> Ja, das werde ich auf jeden Fall tun.-Yes I definitely will
> 
> Ah, kleine Maus, ich mag es wenn du so entschlossen bist. Das ist wirklich süß.-Ah, little mouse, I like when you are so determined. It’s so cute.
> 
> My lovely translator who is a sweet cinnamon roll too good for this world and should be thanked muchly for keeping this error free.


	10. Chapter 10

Beca looked around debating what to do next. She had plans, totally, but what to do first? Probably rides first. That made the most sense. If she won something for Mina at one of those carnival games they would have to lug it around the rest of the day, which totally wouldn’t be fun.

“This way,” Beca tugged on Mina’s hand. She was glad she had a good sense of direction and the running around with Bellas yesterday had familiarized her with the park enough that she really didn’t need a map to get around anymore.

“What’s in store now?”

“Rides, duh.” She looked at Mina. “I’m beginning to wonder if getting on any rides would actually mess up your hair or if it’ll always look perfect.”

Mina laughed. “Soft hold hairspray is a wonderful invention, little mouse, or did you think my hair naturally stayed in place.”

Beca spluttered. “No, of course not.”

Mina smiled knowingly but said nothing else on the subject. “So what ride are we going to first?”

“The Demon, if that’s cool with you.”

Mina tensed visibly. “That’s fine,” she said, voice a bit choked.

Beca pulled them to a stop. “Wait, are you sure? You look like that might be a horrible idea.”

“No, no, it’s completely fine.” Mina looked away and into the crowd.

Beca chewed on her lip for a few moments. “Ok, if you’re really sure, but if you don’t want to go, it’s fine. There are like a thousand different rides here and they’re all fun. I would know, the Bellas dragged me on every single one of them.”

“Mouse, it is fine.” Her free hand came up and cupped Beca’s face, thumb tracing her cheekbone gently.

Beca’s hand came up and held Mina’s against her cheek. “Ok then, let’s go.” She stayed like that, enjoying the feeling for a few seconds more before letting go and turning to continue the trek.

When they got there, Beca was pleased to find the line was short. That was the whole problem with amusement parks half the time, you paid around to wait. The gardens hadn’t been bad, at least the days that Beca had been there. She watched one car leave the station and the next one come in. The line shuffled forward some more and Beca smiled. They’d totally get on the next one.

Beside her Mina was getting tenser by the second. Beca looked at her, concerned, but she wasn’t going to bring up the fact that Mina didn’t have to do this. She was a grown woman who knew her limits. She just squeezed Mina’s hand reassuringly and stepped forward as the line moved again.

She chose a row of seats near the middle. If Mina was already a little bit nervous being in the very front or back would make it even worse probably. The people right in front of them loaded onto their car and the teenagers working at the park checked their safety harnesses.

“So have you been on this before?” Beca asked.

“I have, yes. It was a while ago, but yes. A few people I was friends with in high school came here for a weekend.”

“Oh, cool.”

Their car pulled up and the people unloaded. The gate open and Beca pulled Mina through and across to the two seats on the farthest side. She made sure to take the one on the edge so Mina didn’t feel like she was about to fall off while they were riding. She strapped herself in quickly and watched out of the corner of her eye as Mina did the same. The kids came around and pulled on their straps and a minute later they were rolling out of the station and towards the lift hill.

Adrenaline started to shoot through Beca’s system. She loved rollercoasters. Like a lot. Even the wimpy kid ones, they were all fun.

Mina’s hand darted across the small space between them as soon as the car hooked onto the lift chain. She started to squeeze hard as the car started to ascend the hill. She turned her head and looked over at Mina, but the shoulder harness was in the way and she couldn’t see a whole lot. Stupid shortness was actually getting in the way for once.

The other woman was taking short, ragged breaths. Mina had so totally lied about everything being fine with getting on this ride. She was totally going to ream her a new one for that later. But for now they were almost at the top of the hill and there wasn’t much to do about it other than lace her fingers through Mina’s and hope that comforted her even the tiniest bit.

They went over the edge of the hill. Beca screamed her delight as she left her stomach at the top. Beside her Mina seemed to relax all at once and started to laugh. Beca looked over at her, worried. Had she gone off the deep end or something? But no, the glimpses she could catch of Mina’s face looked like she was actually having a lot of fun. Which was weird considering she was just about to break down like twenty seconds ago. Ok then.

Beca put her one free arm up as they went around the loops. She screamed again, the sound more joy than terror. She’d enjoy the ride until she could ask Mina what in the world was going on. Her heart beat harder and blood rushed around her body as they flipped and turned, wind whipping their faces, until finally they came to a stop right outside the station, waiting for the next car to unload.

“What in the world was that?” Beca asked, a little breathless and loopy from the adrenaline high.

“Whatever do you mean, mouse?”

“You know exactly what I mean. You were about to pass out from anxiety and then suddenly you were having the time of your life. What was up with that?”

Mina peeked around the shoulder harness. “May I explain once we are off this contraption?”

“Uh yeah, sure.”

The car rolled forward into the station and jerked to a stop. The harnesses released a second later. Beca unsnapped the belt and lifted the harness off, stepping onto the other side of the platform, looking on as Mina extricated herself from the seat. It looked like it was a lot harder to ride a rollercoaster when you were basically six feet tall, but Mina was beside her in another few seconds. Beca reached out and grabbed her hand and they walked towards the exit.

When they were on the main road again she turned the Mina. “Ok, so we’re off the ride now, what was going on? You have me worried.”

“It’s fine little mouse.” Mina pulled them to a stop. She stepped forward and kissed Beca’s forehead. “I’m sorry I caused you to worry but that particular…reaction of mine is rather…embarrassing. Most people really don’t notice, though. Humans are usually wrapped up in themselves suspended a hundred feet in the air.”

“Well, I’m not everyone. Any reason that happened or you just don’t really like heights?”

Mina shook her head. “It’s not heights that make me nervous, it’s steep hills. Lift hills make me think that we’re about to tip backwards. I was in an accident when I was younger, around fourteen. A few friends and I were riding on…I believe Americans call them fourwheelers? ATVs? What have you. Anyway, I was riding double with a friend and we were going up a hill and everything was fine until we had to stop for some dummkopf came down the middle of the path and we had to stop so we didn’t hit him. When we started up again, the ATV tipped backwards. I wasn’t hurt, but my friend broke her wrist rather badly. I’ve been rather wary of hill ever since. However, I do really enjoy rollercoaster and so I deal with it as best as I can.”

“Oh, ok, I guess I can see that.” She let go of Mina’s hand so she could wrap and arm around her waist instead. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Mina waved it off, but didn’t let Beca’s arm slip from her waist. “It’s in the past now. The first ride is the worst. I should be better for the rest of the time we’re here.”

“Ok, but if you don’t want to do any of the rides, just say so. It really is cool.” Beca smiled up at the other woman.

“I believe you, mouse, but I don’t let my fears get in the way of something I want to do.” She wrapped her arm around Beca’s shoulders. The height difference between them was a little ridiculous, but Beca liked being almost engulfed by the other woman like this.

Her eyes wandered around the rides trying to decide what to do next. She perked up when she saw the carousel. “Come on.” She started to guide them towards the entrance. “I think something a little more sedate after that will be nice.”

Mina followed Beca’s eyes. “Are you serious?” There was laughter in her voice. “That’s a small children’s ride. Though you are as big as a small child.”

“Har de har, haven’t ever heard that one before.” She pinched Mina’s side gently.

Mina jumped and squeaked. She glared down at Beca. “That wasn’t nice, little mouse.”

Beca tilted her head. She hadn’t pinched hard enough to hurt. It had probably tickled more than anything else. She bit the inside of her lip, looking up at Mina innocently. Well, there was totally a way to tell. She moved her fingers lightly, tickling the other woman’s side. Immediately Mina burst out laughing, trying to squirm away from Beca’s fingers.

“Oh my god, you’re ticklish.” Beca laughed and stopped moving her fingers.

The look Mina gave her now probably could have killed lesser mortals, but Beca just found it sort of adorable in scary way. Also hot, but that was not a thought for the middle of theme park with small children.

“You tell anyone, you die. Pieter would have a field day with that.”

“Why would I tell anyone?” A wicked gleam entered her eyes. “I finally know your one weakness. We wouldn’t want everyone to have that knowledge. Then I couldn’t use it to my advantage. You know, like winning the argument about what movie we’re going to watch, or what we’re having for dinner, super important things like that.”

Mina rolled her eyes. “And I suppose you aren’t ticklish of course.”

Beca shook her head with a shit eating grin on her face. “Dad used to tickle me when I was little and it got annoying so I just sort of decided that I wasn’t ticklish one day and so I’m not.”

Mina looked down at her with an odd expression on her face. “That’s actually a little frightening that you just decided not to be ticklish and it worked. I would pay for that. I’m supposed to be a fierce leader of DSM and leaders aren’t ticklish.”

“I was stubborn as a kid. I still am.” She shrugged. “Besides, other than being ticklish you’re totally the scary DSM leader through and through. You’ve got the scary glare down.”

Mina shook her head. “It is of no matter. Soon enough Pieter will be the scary leader and I will be the broke grad student.”

“I bet they have a cappella groups at Caltech that you can totally take over.” Beca stopped at the gate to the carousel and waited for the current ride to come to an end.

“Hmm, perhaps.” A small smile crept onto Mina’s face.

Beca laughed. “They wouldn’t even know what hit them. Suddenly they’d just be at worlds four years from now with their heads spinning.”

Mina shrugged. “I don’t know about that. Competing at worlds is time consuming, but a hobby that isn’t research is always a good idea.”

The carousel came to a stop and the people that were on trickled off. Another teenager opened the gate. Beca quickly walked through and looked around. Picking a horse on a carousel was an art. She glanced back at Mina and smiled before shooting off towards a pretty black horse with a bright red and gold saddle and reins. She heard Mina snort behind her as she followed.

Beca climbed up on the horse like some sort of monkey. Really carousel horses needed to be shorter. There were small children who rode these things and she could barely get on. She looked over at Mina who just cocked an eyebrow before easily swinging herself onto the horse beside Beca’s, a grey and white number that wasn’t nearly as pretty as the one Beca was on. She felt that same smug satisfaction that she did when she was little and sat up taller on her horse. Jesus, how old was she? It was totally Mina’s fault she brought out the odd, playful side.

“Do you need someone to hold you on that horse, little mouse, to make sure you don’t fall off?” She gestured at the Mother a few rows in front of them, holding up her little boy as he squirmed on the horse, giggling happily. “We both know just how clumsy you are.”

“Oh come on, not everyone can have legs that touch the ground on a carousel horse. Giant German goddess,” she muttered under her breath, but of course Mina heard.

“And if I am, would you worship me?”

“I think I already do, but there are a few more ways I’d like to worship you later.” She blushed hard as images of Mina writhing under her flashed before her eyes. She was a teenaged boy and a small child all at once. What in the world did this woman do to her?

“Mmm, I think a goddess could get used to that, little mouse.” And Beca swore that Mina’s voice dropped an octave. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the sound. She needed to change the subject like now for her sanity.

“Ok, so I know that you’re from Germany, but what actual part of Germany?”

“I grew up in a suburb right outside of Hamburg, but when I was in the middle of high school my parents moved to Berlin. When I go back, Hamburg always feels more like home, as much as anything does feel like home anymore. Berlin, however, is nice in its own way. Something is always going on.”

Beca nodded. She knew the feeling of not really feeling at home anywhere. She felt it now and she’d felt that way at the beginning of college. The Bellas had been her home, but now that was ending. She wondered just when she’d feel at home again.

“I’m from North Carolina originally. We moved to Georgia later when Dad got a job at Barden. Dad and Mom were both from the Midwest, though, so I really didn’t pick up the accent anywhere we lived, thank god.”

“But you did learn how to fake it.”

Beca snorted. “Well, yeah, most people know how to fake the really over the top Southern Belle thing. It’s sort of a part of American culture that everyone’s aware of without quite realizing how they learned it.” She shrugged.

“Are you an only child?” Mina asked.

Beca hesitated. “Basically, yeah.”

“Basically?” Mina turned to look at her as they kept making loops around the carousel, cheesy music playing in the background.

“Yeah, a couple years after we moved, Mom sort of left. I was twelve and just starting to be the whole bratty teenager stereotype, so I didn’t take it well. Anyway, she left, got with another guy, and they had a kid about a year later. So technically I have a half-sister, but I really haven’t met her and there are thirteen years between us anyway. I’m not sure I’d have much in common with a nine year old, you know?”

Mina reached out and placed her hand on Beca’s thigh, sliding up and down as their horses bobbed up and down in opposite rhythms. “I’m sorry.”

Beca shrugged. “It’s ok. I’m ok now. Now when I was younger, no, but now.” She ran her hand through her hair, cursing herself a second afterward for potentially messing up her hair while still in the middle of their date. “Dad was always there and that helped a lot and still does. I resented him for a long time, thinking it was his fault, but then I grew up and realized that relationships fall apart because of both parties not just one. Most times anyway, I’m sure there are exceptions but that really isn’t the case in this point and it’s whatever. I have my life set up and I’m happy and that’s all that matters.”

“Of course, liebling.”

The carousel stopped. Beca swung off her horse, almost falling off, but Mina was there with a steadying hand. Beca shot her a grateful look before they both walked off the platform and out onto the main thoroughfare again.

“Do rides that spin make you sick, mouse?” Mina asked, grabbing her hand again.

Beca breathed in a deep breath as Mina’s presence steadied her. Sharing about her Mom always unbalanced her a little bit. But right now, Mina beside her was negating a great lot of that. Still, she leaned into the other woman a bit more, appreciating the warmth she could feel radiating from the other woman.

“No, why?”

“Good, come this way, I know what we’re riding next.”

“Uh ok.” Beca followed Mina willingly.

 

Turned out that what they were riding next was every single ride that spun in some way in the entire park. Beca stumbled out of the last one, not sure if she would ever actually walk in a straight line again. Mina was laughing at her antics, walking in a straight line as if they hadn’t just taken a ride on the equivalent of a giant washing machine. How in the world was she even possible?

“Ok, no more rides for a while or you’re going to kill me,” Beca said, standing up straight as the world came to a stop again. “Jesus, who would have thought you would have a thing for spinning rides.”

“They’re fun, little mouse, and they don’t have hills. It’s the…best of both worlds I believe is the saying, ja?”

“Ja, it is.” Beca walked over and leaned again Mina. Mina’s arms wrapped around her and Beca sighed, content, if still a bit nauseous.

“If not more rides, then what?”

Beca looked down at her phone. It was still early for dinner and she wasn’t really super hungry anyway. She looked around and saw one of the stupid whack-a-mole games that all carnivals and theme parks had. She smiled. Now seemed like a good time as any to win Mina one of those stupid stuff toys.

She pulled out of Mina’s embrace and grabbed her hand again. Beca didn’t think they’d gone more than a few minutes at a time without holding each other in some way. The clinginess would have bothered her with Jesse, but now it barely fazed her. This was how it was supposed to be, she thought.

“I have an idea.” She tugged them both over to the game and looked up at the man running it. He spoke to her in Danish and Beca just looked back at Mina with wide eyes.

Mina responded easily. Beca heard the words forty kroner and she dug out two twenty kroner coins and handed them to him. After all it wouldn’t be really worth it if Mina won her own prize. The man flipped the switches on the two machines right in front of them and handed them mallets.

Beca looked over at Mina. “I’m totally going to beat you just like I did at worlds.” She smirked.

“You are the kicker of ass, feisty mouse? You’re still so tiny.” There was laughter sparkling in Mina’s eyes. It left Beca a little breathless.

“I think I proved that I can kick ass already or do you not remember coming in second two days ago. That could indicate short term memory problems, you should get that checked out.”

Mina struck out at the board and smiled at Beca. “We shall see. You’re already behind. Good luck catching me.”

Beca scrambled and started to hit the moles with all the speed she could muster. She kept herself from glancing over at Mina’s board. If she distracted herself now she would totally lose and that was not what she was aiming for here. Of course she had forgotten the fact that Mina was super competitive in her quest to win her a two dollar stuffed animal. That probably would come back to bite her in the ass later, but for now she was busy whacking moles.

The game ended a minute later and Beca stood up, looking over at Mina’s score and then her own. She’d beat her by ten points. She giggled, but managed to resist jumping up and down. She’d actually done it.

The man spoke in Danish again. Mina translated for her again. “He’s asking what prize you want from the bottom shelf.”

The bottom shelf was full of little stuffed animals no bigger than a water bottle. Perfect, Mina would be able to fit something like that in her luggage easily. She looked over the choices quickly. There were a couple things that looked like knock-off pokemon. Somehow she didn’t think Mina would be into that. There was a shark, a penguin, a monkey, a couple of stuffed cartoon characters that must be from Danish cartoons because Beca had no idea about them, and a little stuffed cartoon vampire. She couldn’t resist. She pointed to it and the man grabbed one from below the counter and handed it over to her.

She thanked him and turned towards Mina. She smirked before she handed over the little toy. “For you. Now you have the Dracula to your Mina.”

Mina cocked an eyebrow. “As if I haven’t heard that one before, little mouse.” And yet she still took the toy from Beca and hugged it to her as if it was something valuable.

Beca laughed. “Hey, at least that took a little more thought than a short joke.”

Mina hummed. “Yes, I suppose I can give you that much credit.”

They took each other’s hands again and started to walk down the midway, going nowhere in particular as the sun shined above them. Living in the south forever made it weird that the sun really didn’t set in Copenhagen until almost ten at night and then it rose again at like four in the morning, but right now it gave them almost as much time as they wanted to wander around the park, and that was ok with her.

Mina perked up as they passed one of the games with the BB guns and the cheesy metal targets, all moving on little conveyor belts. Beca wasn’t as fond of them as other carnival games, so she really didn’t play them. However, she found herself being dragged over by a very persuasive blonde.

The other woman handed Beca the little stuffed Dracula. “Hold this for a second, mouse.” She talked to the game attendants and a few seconds later picked up a gun and was firing shot after shot, hitting the targets dead on.

Beca stared with wide eyes. Holy shit. And Mina thought that she was scary for just convincing herself out of being ticklish. From what she was seeing Mina had marksmanship skills to match an army sniper. And again she was turned on at something that was probably completely inappropriate. She had it bad. And there was that thought again. What did that make, like five, six times just on this date alone?

Mina set down the gun with a huge smile on her face. The game attendant stepped from the side and spoke. The other woman pointed at a medium sized stuffed cat that was so cute Beca almost threw up in her mouth. The teenager handed it to her and Mina turned, taking the little Dracula and replacing it with the cat.

“There, little mouse, now you have a cat to keep you company when I’m gone.”

Beca wanted to simultaneously melt into a puddle and groan loudly. Which was probably exactly what Mina had felt when she’d handed her the stupid stuffed Dracula so turnabout in this case really was fair play. She hugged the cat to herself. With the amount of crap she’d bought in Copenhagen just being a cheesy tourist she was going to have to carry the damn thing on the plane, but whatever. She’d deal.

“Thanks.” She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Mina lightly on the lips.

Mina smiled down at her. “Of course, tiny mouse. What are girlfriends for?”

Beca warmed at the word girlfriend. That was really what they were wasn’t it? She didn’t feel any of the slight fear that she had when Jesse had first called her his girlfriend. No, it was all just warm and fuzzies. At this rate she was going to lose her reputation for being a prickly person who didn’t take any shit.

“Yeah, girlfriends,” Beca said in a dreamy voice. She shook herself a bit before she could get too mushy. Mina would totally hold that against her and Beca wouldn’t even blame her.

“Come, I know a place where we can get decent beer and grab a light dinner before we go back out exploring.” Mina pulled her away from the game stand and off into the crowd again.

They came to a building that was totally a caricature of a German structure. She looked up at Mina with an amused expression on her face. “And here I thought the US was the only one who did shit like this.” She gestured in front of them.

Mina rolled her eyes. “I admit, it is a bit…gauche, but their beer is worth the cheesiness. Tell me, mouse, have you ever had German beer before?”

“Um, no, not really a fan of beer.”

Mina looked offended. “How do you not like beer?”

“Because it tastes like piss? I think enjoying beer might just be a social construct.”

She scoffed. “You just haven’t had good beer yet. This will change your mind.” The gestured to the hostess that they wanted a table and they were led to a courtyard, in the shade of a few trees. Beca plopped down on one side of the table.

“Ok, so if this is supposed to change my whole outlook on beer, then what the hell am I supposed to order? Is there a magical beer somewhere on here?” She flipped her menu over and over looking at the words but not really absorbing anything.

“Let me order for you again?” Mina asked.

“Yeah, sure, but I’m paying this time. You paid for lunch, fair’s fair.” She sat the cat beside her in the extra chair.

Mina shot her a fondly exasperated look. “Fine, fine. Oh, little mouse, this is going to be a thing with us, isn’t it?”

“Probably.” Beca shrugged. “God, can you imagine how we’re going to try and one up each other at Christmas?”

Mina chuckled. “I’m sure it will be quite a sight.” She paused for a second. “Do Americans open gifts on Christmas Eve?”

“Some do, but most are on Christmas morning.”

“And you?”

Beca shrugged. “I mean my Dad and I always did it on Christmas morning, but it really never mattered. Germany totally does it on the 24th, don’t they?”

Mina nodded.  “Yes, with hot chocolate and Christmas carols after. It was lovely when I was small.” She smiled, lost in past years. “It’s still my favorite holiday.”

“I bet you totally owned the whole singing thing even back then.”

Mina laughed, starting to twist a strand of blonde hair around her finger absently. “Yes, I did, but most of my family has decent voices. Except my Onkel, he’s horrible.” She shivered. “Papa just made him play the piano instead to keep our ear drums intact.”

“Oh god, that’s totally my Dad. He’s tone deaf, man. But he tries, he tries so hard.”

They both laughed for a few seconds before falling silent as a waitress in a very over the top Heidi dress walked up to them. Beca had to keep from snorting. It was almost like a German version of Hooters in here. But then Mina was ordering for them and the waitress was off again while Beca could still hold it together.

“Are those dresses really a thing?” Beca asked.

“They are, but only really at…establishments like this and traditional festivals.” Mina rolled her eyes.

“And have you worn one before?”

“When I was small, yes.” She glared at Beca.

The image of a little Mina in one of those dresses was just too cute. And potential blackmail material. She wondered if there was any way to find a picture of that. But then Mina would probably ask her Dad for pictures of Beca in that stupid broccoli costume from the class play in first grade, or even worse, her with braces at thirteen and maybe she didn’t need to crack open that can of worms. Beca had far too many embarrassing moments in her life for that.

“Pieter saw me in it and will not let me live it down now that we are older. He’s such an idiot.” She shook her head with that same fond exasperation she had directed towards Beca earlier.

“You’ve known each other for a while then.”

“In a way. We went to the same elementary school, but not the same middle school and then I moved of course. We found each other again at university when we joined DSM. I then had to convince him to never mention how I was when I was a child, or I would dig out the pictures I had of him in a bunny suit, or the one where he had on a blonde wig with pigtails and we just fell back together easily.”

“Oh my god, you’ll show those to me right?” Beca laughed hard, clutching her stomach after a moment.

“Mmm, perhaps, I am Pieter’s friend and I do have certain loyalty to uphold.”

“Eh, fair enough, but I mean…I’d totally be game if you did.”

The waitress came back and put their drinks in front of them. Beca stared at the beer. It was darker than the almost blonde colored one that was sitting in front of Mina. Carefully she lifted the glass to her face and sniffed. Yup, still smelled like beer. She made a face.

“You sure about this?” She asked Mina who was already taking a long drink of her own drink.

She set the glass down and wiped a bit of foam from her upper lip. Beca resisted the urge to aww at just how cute that action had been.

“I am sure. Most American beers are lighter in color, are they not?”

Beca nodded. “At least the ones I’ve had.”

“Then it only makes sense to try something darker, and much better crafted, but that is another point entirely.”

Beca made an incredulous face but raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. And then another. It wasn’t actually that bad. She took a longer drink and then sat the glass down again. She still preferred mixed drinks, but at least she wasn’t about to gag.

“Not bad.”

Mina scoffed. “Americans. Don’t know good alcohol when it bites them on the ankle and can’t hold it either.”

“Hey! I can hold my alcohol well for someone my size. Also, it bites them on the ass. More painful.”

“Ah, yes, that would be. And just how much alcohol can you hold, little mouse? A shot?”

“Four shots before I’m tipsy. You know I did go to college right? That’s like all we do. Well, besides a cappella competitions, but that isn’t everyone.”

“Four shots, how precious.” She sipped more of her beer.

“You’re also six feet tall!”

Mina tilted her head to the side. “And your point?”

“You are a scientist, you damn well know what my point is. The higher your body mass the more alcohol it takes to get you drunk!”

Mina laughed. “Yes, feisty mouse, I know. I was pulling your leg. But still, you shouldn’t ever challenge me to a drinking contest.”

“And how many shots does it take to make you tipsy, huh?”

“Depending on how fast I drink them, eight.”

Beca was speechless for a second. “How are you even real?”

“I’m German and I’m almost six feet tall, that’s how.” She shrugged.

“Ok, right, not challenging you to a drinking contest, check. Though is it bad that I want to just because you said not to?”

“You’re a stubborn little mouse, it is normal.”

“Fair enough.”

Two plates of schnitzel and noodles came out a few minutes later. Beca smelled the food and it smelled wonderful. She swore she was going to gain like ten pounds just from eating on this trip, but that was ok in her book. She’d get back to her normal morning run routine when she got back to the states. She frowned at that. She was totally going to have to scout out a good park for jogging when she got to LA. And running in the heat, oh god. She was going to die. Maybe she would invest in a gym membership instead.

“What are you thinking about?” Mina asked, popping a bite in her mouth.

“Things I need to do when I get to LA. I was thinking about finding a park to go jogging in but then I realized that LA is in the middle of a desert and that jogging outside might suck spectacularly and a gym membership might be better.”

“The gym membership does come with the potential of other exercises.”

“Yeah, even them I’m never going to have abs like yours, Jesus.”

“Thank you.” Mina smirked. “I take it you liked that mesh crop top from the riff off?”

“God, you have no idea. I still have dreams about that outfit.” Beca froze, realizing what she just said. “Well, fuck.”

“Well, perhaps I will wear that again for you sometime.”

Beca groaned. “Evil, evil woman.”

“I do try, leibling.” She grinned and took another drink of her beer.

“Yeah, well, I’ll just have to dress in all leather or something and see how you like it.”

Mina’s eyes darkened and she licked her lips. “I think I would like that quite a lot.”

Oh Jesus, she really needed Jesus in that moment because her thoughts were so totally not PG. Then again, they really hadn’t been this entire date but that was beside the point right now. She really hoped no one was a mind reader around her because they were getting quite the show if there were. If anyone was a mind reader it was totally Mina, but that was still yet another point.

“Um, yeah, I, right. So.” Beca searched for words that would actually form a real sentence.

Mina just laughed. “Don’t hurt yourself, mouse.”

“I’m trying.” She reached out and took a huge gulp of beer like that might save her. It didn’t, but it at least gave her a little time to recover. “You need to stop trying kill me like that,” she finally managed.

“Like what?” Mina fluttered her eyelashes, the picture of innocence.

Beca just shot her an unamused look. “You still totally know what I’m talking about, you beautiful genius, you.”

“And if I do?”

“Then for the love of god try not to short circuit my brain!”

“But it’s so fun, kleine maus.” Mina smirked that panty melting smirk and Beca couldn’t find it in herself to be angry.

She was totally going to need like five more beers at least to get through tonight, she could feel it. Beca reached out again and took another large swallow. The beer was growing on her, which was nice. Too bad she’d probably have a hell of a time actually finding decent beer in the US or else she might try some other types.

“I’ll tickle you again, don’t test me.”

“Ah yes, tickling, how threatening,” Mina deadpanned.

“I’ll make it threatening.” She made clawed hands and swiped them at Mina and felt like a complete dork two seconds afterward. Right, she wouldn’t be doing that again.

Mina laughed at her and shook her head. “Such a funny person, you are, darling.”

“I try.” Beca looked down at her food and ate a couple more bites before pushing the plate away and sipping at the rest of her beer. She looked across the table to find Mina was done as well. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before the waitress appeared again and whisked their plates away, saying something that probably translated to I’ll bring the bill in a second.

Beca snatched up the folder when the waitress set it down a minute later, looking at Mina with eyes that said don’t even dare. Mina just shook her head and sat back, draining the rest of her drink and sitting the empty glass down on the table. The waitress swept by and carried off the folder.

“Is there more to your elaborate date plan, mouse?” Mina asked as the change was returned to Beca.

Beca stuffed the change in her wallet and stood up. She looked at her phone and smiled. Perfect, they were right on time. She couldn’t have planned it better.

“Actually, yeah, there’s a concert at one of the stages around here that I thought we could go to for a bit, if you wanted.” Beca smiled and offered her arm.

“That sounds like a decent idea.” She looped her arm through Beca’s. “Lead on then.”

Beca led them out into the dusky light of evening. She wasn’t sure when so much time had passed. It felt like she’d been with Mina for two minutes, maybe. There were very few people she could be with like this and not exhaust herself from all the social interaction. She looked up at Mina and smiled. It was a good sign that Mina was one of the few. A very good sign.  

She sighed and leaned into Mina a bit more to ward off the coming chill of evening as she led them further into the park.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note the rating change kids, things get spicy. If you don't want to read the spice, just skip after they get back to the hotel and come back next chapter for more plot-like things.

The little grove that the concert was being held in was sort of cute, though it would have been better if there weren’t quite as many people. The concert was just kicking off as they walked in and Beca smiled. Everything was going so well on this date, she couldn’t quite believe it. Usually something in her life had gone catastrophically wrong at this point. She looked around quickly for some wood to knock on just so she didn’t jinx herself like an idiot. Which of course there wasn’t really any in easy reaching distance so she was probably screwed.

“Do you know this band, mouse?” Mina said, stopping at the edge of the crowd.

“No, actually, I just saw that they would be playing today and thought we could check them out. If they sucked then at least we tried, right?”

Mina laughed. “Ah yes, your plan for today was so researched.” She pulled Beca into her arms and started to sway to the music. It was soft and calm, something mellow and indie which Beca could totally respect. “They’re a German band, actually and one of my favorite indie groups.”

“Shit, really?” Beca perked up. Ok, so maybe knocking on wood hadn’t been needed after all.

“Ja, really. I had no idea that they would be here.” She drew Beca just a little bit closer and set her chin on top of Beca’s head.

Beca sighed as they swayed around and around in a circle, letting the music surround them. She should be a little annoyed at the fact that Mina could actually put her head on top of her own, but really she just felt ensconced in Mina, smelling cinnamon and something more floral that Beca couldn’t quite place. She smelled good enough to eat really.

She rested her head against Mina’s chest, trying not to think too much about just how perfect Mina’s boobs were and how close they were to her face at the moment. The tight black t-shirt under her face wasn’t really helping her, either. There was no hiding that Mina had an awesome chest with how form fitting it was. But still, she relaxed into the other woman easily, despite her rather impure thoughts. She felt like she could stay like this forever.

Mina’s hand drifted down slowly from Beca’s waist to her lower back and then dangerously close to her ass as the songs kept playing and they kept dancing. Beca smiled into Mina’s chest and didn’t say a word. It looked like she wasn’t the only one who was having problems keeping their thoughts on the right side of PG. Sparks were firing along Beca’s nerves, traveling up to her brain, and waking up parts of her that hadn’t been alive in a good while.

“This is nice,” she mumbled into Mina’s chest. She felt the vibrations of Mina’s quiet laugh against her face.

“It is.”

“We should do this more often,” Beca breathed out in the silence between songs.

“We should.”

“I’m glad you’re moving to Pasadena.”

Mina’s fingers started to make circles on Beca’s lower back, a few of them straying down firmly into ass territory. Beca shivered and drew Mina close enough that there wasn’t really space between them anymore. It wasn’t close enough, but if she did anything more they were going to end up trip and face planting or something equally as unromantic.

“I’m glad I am too, little mouse.”

“You know, I know that mouse is a German term of endearment, right.”

Mina’s fingers froze for just a second. “No, I didn’t, but you are a smart woman so it does not surprise me.”

“So why do you really still call me little mouse? Or better why did you call me little mouse before all this began.” She took one hand from Mina’s back and gestured at the two of them.

“Perhaps I’ve have a bit of a crush on you for a while. Besides, most Americans don’t know that mouse is a pet name. It was an easy way to tease you and an easy way to express affection, even if you weren’t aware. Besides, it does fit you. You are tiny and cute like a mouse.”

“You had a crush on me?” Beca tilted her head up enough so she could look at Mina. “No way.”

“I did. You were very cute when trying to be fierce. I find that not many people will try to stand up to me. I am rather intimidating. It was refreshing to find someone who wanted to challenge me, even if you were rather horrible at it. My sweat smells like cinnamon indeed.” She chuckled. “It also helps that you are beautiful, liebling.”

“You’re the beautiful one. You’re the goddess.” Beca laid her head back on Mina’s chest.

Mina’s fingers found her chin and lifted her head up again so she was looking her in the eyes. “Who says we both can’t be beautiful?”

The look in Mina’s eyes was so sincere and loving that Beca didn’t really have any words. She stood up on her tiptoes instead and kissed Mina gently as they still swayed to the music in the darkening night. Beca’s hands migrated up until they were tangled in Mina’s hair and Jesus it was so soft that it was almost unfair. Who had hair that literally felt like corn silk in real life? But then Mina’s tongue was in her mouth and all coherent thought fled her mind. All that her world consisted of was Mina and the lingering taste of beer and something sweet. She didn’t want it to end.

But it had to. They were in a public place after all, even if most of the crowd was more concerned with the band playing in front of them than with the two women making out at the back. Beca pulled back, breathless and panting and wanting so much more. In the faint light Mina’s eyes were almost the color of the night sky above them, dark and calm but holding everything known to man. Beca got lost in them for a long moment as her breathing regulated.

“Come back with me, leibling, please,” Mina breathed out. “I want to—I want you.”

The words lit a fire in Beca, so hot she was surprised that she didn’t melt on the spot. And it didn’t matter that they really knew little about each other, that they had only really been seriously dating for maybe all of a day and a half, all that did matter was right in front of her looking down at her with those eyes. She wondered what happened to the closed off Beca that would have tiptoed around this for months before she even approached the subject. Maybe it had been the Bellas, maybe it was just Mina, but Beca found in this case it didn’t matter. She didn’t miss closed off Beca.

“Yes,” She whispered, and it was almost covered by the music, but Mina smiled anyway and Beca knew she’d heard.

The last note of the last song faded and the band thanked the crowd and introduced the next act. Mina stepped back and Beca missed the closeness immediately, but then Mina was pulling her from the crowd, steps sure and steady as always, if a bit more hurried than normal. Beca followed willingly, almost having to jog to keep up. They made their way back through the park and out into the night darkened streets of Copenhagen. They made their way to the bus stop and waited, wrapped up in each other, not being able to bear not touching.

When the bus came Beca had to stop herself from just sitting down in Mina’s lap. She wanted Mina, yes, but she wasn’t about to go that far. No one really wanted to see them almost dry hump in the bus seat. Beca groaned at the mention of dry humping. She really needed to stop her thought process while she was ahead sometimes.

She knew the ride was ten minutes at most from the park back to the hotel, but it felt like a small eternity with Mina’s fingers drawing patterns on her hands and arms. She looked up to see Mina smirking down on her. She totally knew what affect she was having on Beca. Beca had half a mind to retaliate, but that half a mind that was missing was proving really crucial to actually thinking of something to do. She settled into leaning into Mina, burying her face in the other woman’s neck. God, she was sure she’d never get used to just how good Mina smelled.

Somehow, they both managed to make their way off the bus and into the night air again. The coolness brought Beca back to herself just a bit from her rather lust ridden haze. She swallowed and watched Mina walk slightly in front of her, their hands still clasp together like letting go would kill them. And even with coming back to herself that little bit more, she knew that she was making the right choice. If even she over thought everything in a Chloe level manner, she’d come back to that conclusion.

The elevator ride up to their room had Beca almost shaking in anticipation. But then they were on their floor and walking to Mina’s room and Beca was so glad that the other woman got the privilege of having her own room because she was the leader. She didn’t want to have to deal with trying to shove anyone else out of the room right then.

Mina shoved the key card in the slot and opened the door. She tugged Beca through and shut the door behind them. The other woman turned and looked down at Beca with probing eyes.

“Are you sure, liebling? We do not have to do this. I would settle for a night of cuddling and sleeping by your side if that’s what you want instead.”

Beca shook her head. “No, I’m sure, really, really sure. Like I don’t think I’ve ever been more sure in my life and oh my god I need to shut up.”

“I think I can help with that.” Mina pressed her up against the door and kissed her soundly and Beca forgot what words were entirely. Yeah, that was definitely one way to shut her up. She liked this way. This way should be used more often.

Her arms came up to loop around Mina’s neck, tangling in her hair again. This time they were in private. This time she didn’t have to keep things fit for public consumption. She felt free. She smiled into the kiss and Mina hummed into her mouth. Beca’s eyes fluttered closed and she couldn’t quite remember a time when she felt more on top of the world. Even winning worlds didn’t compare to this.

Mina wrapped her arms around Beca’s waist and took a few steps back. Beca stumbled after, desperate to keep their lips latched together. She wasn’t losing contact now that they were alone. Oh no, she was going to go after this more tenaciously than she had anything before, including becoming a producer. She whimpered as Mina’s tongue slipped inside her mouth and quickly found every single sensitive spot there was. Oh my god, had it bad was an understatement right at that moment.

Beca felt the bed nudge up against their legs. She swallowed and dropped her hands from Mina’s hair. She needed to feel more of the other woman. Right then. She felt like she would burn up on the spot if she didn’t. Her fingers slipped under the hem of the t-shirt Mina was wearing and she felt soft, warm skin. It was unfair that the woman had such soft skin all over her body. How in the world did she manage?

But then her hands were tracing over taunt abs that had drawn her eyes at the riff off and she forgot about everything else but the muscles jumping underneath her fingertips. Mina detached from the kiss and Beca almost groaned at the loss, but then Mina’s mouth was sucking on her neck and she was groaning for a completely different reason.

Her hands slipped higher, bringing up Mina’s shirt with them. Smooth skin gave way to the edge of a lacy bra that Beca didn’t even have to pull back to know was black. It was Mina after all, Beca didn’t know if she owned clothes in any other color. She laughed, but that quickly turned into a gasp as Mina found the sensitive place just below her ear and sucked hard. She was totally going to have a bruise their tomorrow and she didn’t care. The Bellas could razz her all they wanted. She was the one with a goddess in her bed so she was the one who won in the end.

She skimmed her thumbs over the fabric of the bra, immediately finding nipples that were straining through the fabric. She brushed over them again and again as Mina’s breath hitched in her ear as she kept sucking and nipping and licking at Beca’s neck. She felt so powerful in that moment that she could cause Mina to break composure in any way at all.

She slipped her hands under Mina’s bra, wanting more contact and moaned. Perfect. Everything was perfect with Mina’s hard nipples pressing into her palm, the weight of them just right. The only way it could be better is if Mina’s shirt was off so she could see what she was doing. Oh the sight of Mina naked was probably going to kill her. She was going to die of a stroke before the sex even really began like some sort of idiot, but damn would that be a hell of a way to die.

Mina’s hands found their way under Beca’s shirt and started to caress her lower back with fleeting touches. Sparks started to fire through Beca’s system, overloading everything. Jesus, she hadn’t known she was so damn sensitive back there. She arched into Mina’s touch and shuddered hard. She felt Mina smirk against her neck and Beca would have rolled her eyes if she had the presence of mind.

She was heating up so fast now. She needed to not have this many clothes on, or maybe she needed for Mina to not have as many clothes on. Either way. She pushed backwards just a bit, dislodging Mina from her neck. Before the other woman could say anything she was ripping the t-shirt over her head, finally mussing the perfect blonde hair on the other woman’s head.

“Feisty mouse,” Mina said in that same breathless voice from earlier. Beca wanted to hear it again and again until Mina could speak at all, only incoherent words spilling from her mouth.

“Ja, kratzbürstige maus,” Beca replied, throwing the t-shirt to the side and moving forward once again to reach around and unhook Mina’s bra. She thanked every god that was listening that she managed to get it in one go so she didn’t look like some dumb teenage boy mystified by how hooks worked.

And then Mina was naked from the waist up in front of her and Beca was praying for a completely different reason. She reached out and ran her finger tips from Mina’s shoulder to the waist of her pants. “Beautiful,” she whispered out.

“Thank you.” Mina grabbed Beca’s hand and kissed her palm gently. “But I believe turnabout is fair play, mouse.” She stepped forward and had Beca’s shirt and bra off before Beca even really knew what was happening. Mina drew Beca into another kiss, messier and hotter this time as they both gasped into each other’s mouths, feeling bare skin on skin for the first time.

Beca wasn’t sure why she thought that this would cool her down. If anything it had done the exact opposite. But that was fine as long as she was still alive with the most gorgeous creature on the planet pressed up against her.

Mina turned them a little bit until Beca’s knees were pressed against the bed. She detached from the kiss and smirked at Beca before she shoved lightly and Beca went tumbling back on the bed. Beca gasped as Mina made short work of her shoes and socks, fingers finding sensitive spots even there without any effort. Mina kicked off her own shoes before she crawled on top of Beca and smiled down at her. She kissed Beca’s nose lightly.

“Hallo, kleine maus.” One of Mina’s hands came up and cupped Beca’s face gently. “Is this still all right?”

Beca nodded fervently. Oh it was more than alright, but she couldn’t quite find the words to express that just yet. Or maybe ever with how slow her brain was working right now.

“Good, so good.” And then Mina was kissing her way down Beca’s body, leaving a trail of heat in her wake. She spent a few long minutes tracing Beca’s collarbone with her tongue, nipping at a few places hard enough to bruise. She was being claimed, Beca knew that, but she didn’t really care. She just wouldn’t wear low cut tops for a week while they faded. Or maybe she would. What wasn’t there to be proud of, being claimed by someone like Mina?

Beca’s hands found Mina’s hair again, wrapping through the soft strands and scratching the other woman’s scalp so she hummed against Beca’s skin. Beca tugged her downward. These feelings were so nice, but everything was building inside her so quickly. This wasn’t enough, couldn’t ever be enough. She needed more and more of Mina, as much as the other woman could give and in return she’d give as much as she could back.

Mina thankfully took the hint and kissed her way down to Beca’s breasts. There was a few agonizing minutes of Mina teasing her, kissing and nipping around where Beca truly wanted her, but in a flash, Mina’s mouth was sucking on one of her nipples and the other was being pinched and rolled between two skillful fingers. Beca’s hips bucked without her command. Oh my God, she was sure that she could come just from this alone. She panted out moans. She felt a little light headed from the lack of oxygen in her body, but she didn’t want it to stop.

A hint of teeth on her nipple and Beca was almost screaming. She clamped on of her hands over her mouth to mute herself. She didn’t want them to get kicked out in the middle of this. She might die if that happened.

But then Mina’s free hand was snaking its way up Beca’s body and pulling Beca’s hand away from her face. Mina raised her head for just a second, meeting Beca’s eyes. “Don’t, little mouse, I want to hear you.”

And if Beca had thought she was wet before, she was totally soaked now. She nodded and closed her eyes, throwing her head back into the pillows on the bed as Mina started up again, switching sides, determined to drive Beca completely up the wall. She started to writhe under Mina. She couldn’t help it. Her body was out of her own control right then and there was nothing to be done.

“Mi-na,” she whimpered out. She really, really needed this to continue on.

Mina chuckled, vibrations adding another layer of feeling to the sensations already coursing through Beca. “Yes, mouse?”

“Please, god, please.” She was amazed that she had managed to get out even those words.

“Please what?”

Oh Beca was totally going to get her back for this later. It was basically torture. “Fuck me, please.”

“I can do that,” Mina purred as she raised up again, hands finding the button on Beca’s jeans and undoing it easily. She grabbed the waistband and yanked off the pants and underwear in one moment. She sat back for just a few seconds before speaking. “So schön, maus. So beautiful.”

Mina crawled up and kissed Beca again while her hand caressed its way down Beca’s body. She nudged Beca’s legs apart, and Beca spread willingly, almost crying at how relieved she was that relief was soon at hand.

Her hips jerked again as Mina’s fingers found her, gliding through the copious wetness easily. She groaned, turning her head into the pillow to muffle herself. How was anyone supposed to stand this much feeling?

“Gefällt dir das, leibling?”  Mina whispered in Beca’s ear.

Beca shuddered. Hearing Mina speak another language was a turn on. Hearing Mina speak German while in bed with her was like kerosene on an already lit fire. “Please,” she whimpered out again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” Her fingers circled Beca’s clit, once, twice, before gliding down to rest at Beca’s entrance for just a second.

Beca moved, trying to thrust down on those long fingers. She wanted Mina inside her more than anything in that moment. Mina moaned in her ear and then she was pushing slowly in. They both groaned as one.

“So silky, liebling, so hot, god you feel amazing.” Mina pushed up again and kissed Beca hard but broke away a couple seconds later, panting.

Her thrusts sped up and Beca felt herself getting close to the edge already. She didn’t think she’d ever been this close so quickly with anyone else. Mina really was a miracle in every single way.

Mina’s thumb started to rub Beca’s clit with every stroke and the fire inside Beca rose higher. It was going to engulf her soon. Her hands went to Mina’s back, needing something to ground her. She gripped on to the other woman, sure she was probably leaving nail marks in pristine skin, but she could do nothing about it.

Fingers started to curl inside her, brushing against the rough patch Beca knew was there. Mina bent down and whispered in her ear again. “Come for me, little mouse.”

And that was all it took. Beca came hard enough that she saw stars, body tensing, arching off the bed as she screamed Mina’s name. It was a great long while before she came back to herself.

When she opened her eyes again, Mina was on her side curled up next to her with a satisfied smirk on her face. Beca rolled her eyes, but reached out for Mina and pulled the other woman closer.

“You look like the cat who caught the canary,” she said, voice a little raspy from the screaming.

“Not canary, mouse.”

Beca shoved Mina’s shoulder gently. “It’s never going to die, is it?”

“Of course not.” Mina laughed, pure an uninhibited. Beca sighed with a smile on her face. The woman really was truly beautiful when she laughed like that. She was at every other time, too, but there was just something special about her laugh.

She snuggled into the other woman. “Well, I’ll just have to find something ridiculous to call you.”

“I did like the sound of engel from our text conversation.” Mina started to brush her fingers through Beca’s hair.

“Yeah, but I can’t really make any innuendos with that.”

“You just aren’t being creative enough.”

“Yeah, well, after that I’m not sure I have enough brain cells for that. And don’t you dare smile anymore. You’ll get a big head.”

Mina was totally still smirking. Beca frowned and her brain provided her with a beautiful solution to fix her problem. She lunged forward and kissed Mina soundly. And now the sparks that were flying through her wanted nothing more than to ravage the woman in front of her and make Mina scream her name.

She rolled on top of Mina, pinning her hands above her head. She pulled back from the kissing and went straight for Mina’s neck. If she was going to be marked, she damn well was going to return the favor. She bit and sucked at all the same places that Mina had left marks and then a few more just for kicks and giggles.

When she pulled back to survey her handiwork, Mina stared up at her with pupils blown wide by lust. “Feisty mouse, I’m glad you retain that in bed.”

Beca hummed and smiled wickedly before kissing her way down Mina’s body, not spending any real time any certain place, just finding sensitive spots and cataloguing them away for later. She would need them later, but for now, she needed Mina as much as she had earlier, if in a different way. She unfastened Mina’s jeans and dragged them down slowly, letting her fingers splay out and tickle the skin below them. Mina squirmed under her touch, face flushed and beautiful as her body overloaded on sensations.

She tossed the clothing off the side of the bed and settled in-between Mina’s legs. She’d never done this before, but she’d definitely dreamed about it and now that the opportunity was in front of her she was going to take it. She just hoped she could be good enough for Mina.

Beca lowered her mouth down carefully, scattering kissing along the smooth skin, the first bit of wetness, coating her lips. She licked it off and hummed, tangy and a bit sweet, not like she imagined, but it fit the woman before her. She used one of her hands to part Mina’s lips and dived in more fully, licking from entrance to clit.

“Mein gott,” Mina moaned.

Well, that had to be good. Beca continued the long strokes for a minute before she concentrated more on Mina’s clit, making tight little circles increasing the pressure, flicking her tongue across it every now and again. When she scraped her teeth across the bud gently Mina’s hips bucked.

“Scheiße!”

Beca smiled internally as she watched Mina come more and more undone as she continued to eat her out. God, it was so incredibly sexy to see the woman like this. And Mina was all hers to see. She started to suck hard on Mina. Mina’s moans were now reaching into a completely different register and from the way her thighs were tensing around Beca’s head, she was close. She only needed a little more.

She drove her fingers into Mina and groaned. Jesus, she could totally see what Mina meant earlier, so hot and wet and God above she was not ready for these feelings and yet she didn’t want them to end. She thrust in and out a few times, speeding up, sucking hard. Mina’s hands came down and threading through Beca’s hair. She tugged hard and Beca moaned again at the pain that was blending into pleasure.

One curl of her fingers was all it took to send Mina crashing over the edge. Mina’s thighs clamped around Beca’s head as she screamed out Beca’s name and it was Beca’s turn to smile smugly. She kept licking softly to help draw out Mina’s orgasm, until the other woman finally relaxed and slumped against the bed once more.

Beca crawled up the bed and curled into Mina’s side. She kept the smug smile on her face until Mina finally opened her eyes.

“It isn’t nice to gloat, mouse,” Mina said voice strained as Beca’s had been.

“This coming from you.” Beca snorted. “Right.”

Mina laughed, languid and easy. “Yes.” She pulled Beca closer to her, wrapping Beca up in her arms and tangling their legs together. “Mmm, I’m not done with you yet, but I find that someone might have worn me out enough to require a nap.”

“I’m all for naked cuddling in the meantime, you’re so soft, like some kind of marshmallow.” Beca rolled her eyes at her own blurted words. “But yeah, cuddling.”

“I find that idea amiable.” Mina settled down into the bed and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Beca.”

“For what?”

“For our date, for everything, it really was wonderful.” She cracked open her eyes to look at Beca with a tired smile.

“You’re welcome, but there are plenty of awesome dates in your future.”

“I look forward to them. I look forward to taking you out again as well. I’m afraid I’m rather behind in the impressive date department after today.”

“Yesterday was nice, don’t ever think that it wasn’t,” Beca said softly.

“I’m glad you think so.” Mina’s breathing started to even out and a minute later she was asleep.

Beca stayed awake for a few minutes longer, watching the other woman sleep. Relaxed in sleep she really did look like an angel. She smiled and settled down again, curling into Mina and falling asleep easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> German Translations:
> 
> Gefällt dir das, leibling? -Do you like that, darling  
> Scheiße!- shit  
> Mein Gott- my god  
> I believe the rest is translated in text, hopefully.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may say completed, but like, only this part of the story. I have more planned, I just wanted to keep all of the story in Copenhagen all in one story and start another one for the LA adventures. Also 50k is a novel, so it made sense to break it here, ya know? Anyway, point of this is, there's a sequel in the works that'll be out in the next few days so don't despair that this is ending because it's not really. I've still got things planned, like apartment hunting, and Beca being a dork and actually making cookies for Mina, and Mina cursing that science is a thing, yeah just a lot of things.

Beca woke up early the next morning and yawned. Turned out they really had been done with each other, at least last night. Then again, it wasn’t surprising after running around an amusement park all day. She stretched as much as she could with Mina still wrapped around her. She was sore in all the right places. She hummed and settled back into bed.

“Good morning, little mouse,” Mina said without opening her eyes.

“Morning, engel.”

Mina smiled at that and managed to open her eyes, a clear blue now, still a little bleary with sleep. “Do you also want to stay in bed all day just like this, mouse? Or is that just me?”

“No, it’s totally the both of us.”

“Mmm, good.”

They laid like that for a good while, naked skin pressing up against each other, basking in the other’s presence. Mina’s fingers started to card through Beca’s hair once more. Beca swore she almost purred, and definitely would have if humans were really capable of such a noise. She took to drawing patterns on Mina’s back that only really made sense to her. It was intimate, and for the first time in her life, Beca didn’t want to get up and force it to end. With Jesse it had always been a few minutes of cuddling max in the mornings before she was up and getting them breakfast or taking a shower, or whatever else to break the contact between them, to have her own time once again. It wasn’t like that now with Mina, and if nothing else before at told her that this had been the right choice for her, it was this that finally cemented it.

“We have to leave today,” Mina sighed out, sounding so very sad.

Beca had totally forgotten about that, but it was true. Both of them had flights out today. Her stomach twisted into knots.

“I don’t want to,” Beca whispered.

“I don’t either, liebling. I really don’t.” She pressed Beca into her more fully. “But we will see each other again soon enough. I look forward to coming out to LA now more than ever so I may see you again.”

“Live with me. I mean we’re going to have to have roommates anyway, and I want that roommate to be you,” Beca blurted out, unable to help herself once more. She froze for a second. One date and she was already proposing to live together. Talk about putting the horse before the cart. She prayed that Mina didn’t take that the wrong way. She might die if she did.

Mina remained silent for a very long time and Beca had to stop herself from babbling more. She wondered if there was a way to take it back without hurting their chances of living together in the future. Jesus, she was a colossal idiot sometimes.

“Yes,” Mina said finally.

“Yes?” Beca echoed, unable to believe that that just happened.

“Ja, kleine maus, I have six more languages I can say yes in, if any of those is more comprehensible to you,” Mina teased.

“I just, I mean, I thought I had just royally stuck my foot in my mouth and ruined everything. It’s gonna take a minute for me to adjust back to the fact that I didn’t.”

Mina shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”

“But I mean it’s so fast and—”

Mina put a finger over Beca’s lips. “Yes, it is, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing, you understand? I have a feeling if we did not live with each other our respective roommates would feel like we should as much as we would be over at each other’s places. This just cuts out on the middleman and cuts down on gas or bus fare, wouldn’t you say?”

“I-uh, yeah, I guess it does.” She paused for a second. “You’re really being serious about this, you really want to live with me?”

“Dead serious, is what you say is it not?”

Beca nodded. “Yeah, I mean. Yeah.” A smiled started to creep up on her face slowly at first, and then blossoming into a huge, face eating smile that made Beca’s cheeks hurt but she was just so damn happy she couldn’t help it.

And then a thought occurred to her. “Oh my god, that means I have to do all the apartment hunting and you get off easy.” She shoved at Mina’s shoulder playfully.

Mina laughed. “I can do some research, you know, even from Germany. You’re just going to have to be the one to check them out, yes. Caltech sent me a list of neighborhoods were students usually live. I can send that to you, though something more central between your job and my school would probably work better.”

Beca shrugged. “Send the list to me. I’ll see how it looks before we dismiss them entirely.” Oh my god, this was reality. Beca was still reeling, but she could see the future laying itself out in front of her neater than it ever had before. And she knew it wouldn’t be as smooth as she was picturing it. She was herself and stubborn and Mina was just as bad and a little cold at times, but it was still all she wanted.

“We’re really doing this,” Beca said, that last little piece sliding into place here too. She had worried, in the back of her mind, in that place that believed everything was too good to be true, that this would end as soon as they took off from Copenhagen.

“Yes, we are.” Mina drew her into a long lingering kiss.

Beca pulled back breathless after a few minutes. “God,” she breathed out with another smile.

“You keep calling me a Goddess, but really, liebling, Mina will do.”

Beca rolled her eyes at that. She smirked down at Mina. “Oh really?” She lunged forward and started to tickle Mina mercilessly. Mina shrieked out a laugh, trying valiantly to squirm away from Beca. Beca, however, wouldn’t let her get much of anywhere and tickled the other woman until she was a breathless mess. Only then did she sit back, smirking for all she was worth.

“Evil, evil, little feisty mouse,” Mina gasped out after a second.

“Yeah, and?”

Mina grabbed up a pillow and chucked it at Beca. Beca ducked out of the way easily and the pillow went sailing into the wall.

“Well that was rude.” Beca tried to hold a serious face, but she knew she was doing a shitty job of it.

“So was tickling me, but I suppose we’ll both live.” Mina sat up, the sheet that had been partially covering her slipped to her lap.

Beca’s breath hitched a little. She had spent a long while worshipping that body last night and she had thought it perfect, but here in the light of day, Mina looked even better. Jesus above. She crawled over and took Mina’s face in her hands, guiding them into a kiss.

She pulled back after a minute and rested their foreheads together. “I could get used to waking up like this,” she whispered into the scant space between them.

“So could I, liebling, so could I.”

A knock on the door interrupted them. Both of them turned and frowned at the door. Beca had a few passing thoughts about killing whoever was on the other side, or maybe just having Lilly scare the shit out of them, that might be worse than death and it wouldn’t technically be illegal depending on what Lilly had in mind. She never really could tell.

“Mina, bist du da drin?” Pieter’s voice came through the door.

“Fuck,” Mina muttered. “He won’t go away until I answer.” She slipped off the bed easily and grabbed her t-shirt from the floor, slipping it over her head. She threw Beca’s shirt at her and her underwear as she searched for her own.

“Ja, warte eine sekunde!” Mina called back as she slipped on her newly found underwear.

Beca quickly slipped into the t-shirt and underwear and pulled the sheets over her bare legs. She understood that teams got really comfortable with each other travelling around, but she wasn’t friends with Pieter and he did not need to see her almost half naked, she would stay covered up, thank you very much.

Mina opened the door, hip cocked to the side. Beca could practically see the cocked eyebrow she gave Pieter.

“Was ist es?”

“Du bist nicht ans Telefon gegangen und wir müssen dringend los zum Flughafen.”

“Ja, ich war beschäftigt. Hol den Rest der Gruppe, ich versuche in der Zeit ein Shuttel zu buchen.”

Beca heard shifted in the doorway Pieter tried to look around Mina. Mina did a good job of blocking but Beca caught just enough of a glance of the man to know that he’d probably saw her too.

“Kleine maus!” He crowed. “How good to see you,” Pieter said finally switching back in English for Beca’s benefit.

Mina made a disgusted noise. “Yes, the little mouse is here. Now go do what I said you dummkopf.” She shoved at him.

“Fine, fine, but you are glowing, Mina. It looks nice on you.”

The edge in Mina’s voice was a little less pronounced this time. “Go, idiot, I will be fine.”

“Bye little mouse!” Pieter called before Mina shut the door in his face.

Mina turned back to Beca. “Insufferable, that one is, sometimes.” She rolled her eyes but there was a small smile on her face. “But he is right, our shuttle does come soon.” She looked at the clock on the night stand. “When does your flight leave?”

“Not until later. It’s a red eye back to Georgia. Can I go with you though? I don’t want to say goodbye just yet. I can probably find some way to entertain myself at an airport afterwards.” Beca rubbed the back of her neck and looked away. She really didn’t want to come off super clingy or anything, but what she had said was true, she really didn’t want to say goodbye just yet. Three months wasn’t an eternity or anything, but it was a pretty good stretch.

Mina softened visibly. “Of course you can. Just remember to tell you friends. I do not want them sending the police after you or anything.”

“Yeah, definitely not cool.” Beca pulled herself out of bed. She grabbed all her stuff hurriedly. She had some major packing to do before she was ready to go. She had really planned to just use most of today to get her shit together. Now that that was out the window she had to move her ass.

She hopped around to tug on her jeans with Mina smirking at her, sedately gathering her things and pulling a suitcase from the closet. She totally would be one of those people who neatly put away everything in hotel drawers while on vacation. Beca rolled her eyes and finished getting ready. She grabbed up her bag and stuffed cat and walked over to Mina.

“Gonna go pack, come and get me when you’re ready, ok?” She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Mina goodbye.

Mina reached out and squeezed Beca’s upper arm. “Of course.”

Beca practically ran down the hall once she was out of Mina’s room. It wasn’t the walk of shame anymore, but the sprint. And it wasn’t really shameful anyway. She was proud as fuck to call Mina her girlfriend. So really nothing about that phrase applied to this morning except that she was going back to her room after a night full of wonderful sex. Ugh, she really needed to stop these stupid rants inside her own head.

She got to her room and packed everything as fast as she could. She was going to have to wash everything to get the wrinkles out all her clothes, but that was the price to pay. She hit the speed dial for Chloe and set the phone aside, punching the speaker button so she could talk while she continued to pack.

“Hey Becs, are you back from your date finally?” Chloe said when she answered. Beca could hear the eyebrow wiggle that was implied.

“Yeah, I did. I’m actually packing now.”

Fat Amy’s voice rang out in the background. “Ask her if it was good!”

Beca groaned. They all must be together at breakfast or something. Great.

“Ugh, tell her it’s none of her business.”

“Like hell it isn’t!” Amy exclaimed.

“Yeah, girl, she had to be good. I mean, look at her,” Cynthia-Rose chimed in.

She was going to melt into a puddle of goo embarrassed goo soon. Not being ashamed or anything that happened and being given the third degree over it were two different things.

“Fine, yes, it was wonderful, are you all happy that you know that now?”

There were cat calls on the other end of the line. Beca rolled her eyes and stuffed a souvenir in a free space in her suitcase.

“Why are you packing already, Becs?” Chloe asked.

There was a pause where Lilly must of said something, though Beca couldn’t hear it. Probably something about her trying to smuggle a body out of the country or something. Then again with how much crap was in this suitcase, it was going to weigh enough seem like a body was in here.

“Mina’s flight is in a couple hours. I was thinking I’d go and see her off and just hang around until it’s time for us to get on our plane.”

“Aw, that’s so romantic,” Stacie said.

Ashley and Jessica echoed Stacie almost a second after while there were more cat calls from Cynthia-Rose and Amy.

“I’ll bet you’ll see her off,” Amy said. “Airport bathrooms are good for a few things.

Beca put her head in her hands and groaned. She knew that Amy totally knew that from experience, and she didn’t want to know that. She really didn’t.

“Amy, we’re not going to get it on in a bathroom. She’s coming out to LA in three months. I think we can keep it in our pants until then and not do it in a public place.”

“Eh, suit yourself.”

Beca bit her lip for a second. Chloe would totally weasel this out of her later so she might as well just say it now while she wasn’t in hugging distance. “Um, I sort of asked her to move in with me once she comes out to LA for school.”

“Damn, do we need to plan a shot gun wedding or something?” Cynthia-Rose asked. “Y’all are moving fast.”

“I mean, it makes sense. We would have to have roommates anyways, why not just move in with each other and save ourselves that hassle?” Beca defended.

“Uh huh, that’s why Bumper and I are moving in together, to save the hassle,” Amy deadpanned.

Beca groaned. “Amy.”

“Well I think it’s cute,” Emily finally said.

“Yeah, because you are young and not hardened to the realities of life, Legacy,” Flo said, accent more prominent over the phone.

“That’s not a bad thing!” Emily defended.

Flo clucked her tongue, but thankfully Chloe interrupted anything that was going to come after that. “I think it’s sweet too, Beca. I’m glad you’re happy enough that you’re comfortable offering that as a choice. She did say yes, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did. She’s going to help look up apartments and everything, but I get to be the lucky gopher to go look at all of them. Guess I’ll be snapchatting her a lot of pictures.”

“I think you’ll be doing that anyway,” Amy said. She heard a slapping sound and knew that Cynthia-Rose and Amy had just high fived.

“Hey Amy remember that one time where you were trying to snapchat—”

“Oh no, don’t you even go there, Beca Mitchell.”

“Mhm, yeah I thought so.” Beca smiled smugly at the phone as she zipped up her suitcase. Ok, that was done, now she needed to stuff her carryon and backpack and she was good. She pulled out the carryon and set to stuffing everything that hadn’t fit in her overfull suitcase. Why the hell had she thought it was a good idea to pack this much crap?

A knock came on the door. “Hey guys she’s here, so I got to go.”

“Oh, no you don’t, Beca,” Chloe said.

“Yeah, let us talk to her,” The rest of the group chimed.

Oh over her dead body. Beca’s finger hovered over the end button.

“Nope, I can see you Beca, don’t you dare hit the end button or we’ll just keep calling until you answer.”

“I can turn off my phone you know.”

“But you don’t want to do that.” There was a smirk in Chloe’s voice that spoke of god only knew what sort of public humiliation or razzing from the Bellas. Yeah, better to get it over with now.

“Fine, hold on.” Beca walked to the door and threw it open. Mina was standing there with her bags neatly packed, not looking anywhere near as overstuffed as Beca’s. She looked more put together for a day of traveling than Beca ever did. Shit, she hadn’t actually changed and she’d just packed everything away. She ran a hand over her face.

“Hi, my friends are on speaker phone and want to talk to you and I can’t hit the end button because I think Fat Amy might actually find a dingo and set it on my in the middle of the airport or something.”

Mina chuckled. “So then let them talk to me.” Mischief sparkled in her eyes. She walked into the room dragging her bags.

Beca went back to packing, opening her stuffed suitcase just enough to drag out some clean clothes. She ripped off the dirty stuff and shoved it back in. There was no real need to be modest with a woman she’d just spent the night with. Mina’s eyes were totally on her though, and it was a little hard to ignore but for the fact that the Bellas were still screeching out of the speaker phone.

“Hello Bellas,” Mina’s voice came out like warm, accented honey.

They all went silent for just a second.

“I’m sorry, do you all not understand me? Have you lost all your fluency in loser already? My, my that’s a short retention time,” Mina teased.

“I didn’t think she’d actually do it,” Cynthia Rose’s voice came from the speaker, hushed, but not enough.

“Yeah, well I did,” Beca said, wrestling the last of her toiletries into her carryon.

“Hi there, Kommissar, er, or Mina was it?” Chloe asked.

“Either will do.” Mina leaned against the wall of the room with a smirk on her  face.

There was more whispering that Beca really didn’t pay attention to. She was down to only have her backpack to pack. She grabbed up her laptop, charger, phone charger, and everything else.

“Take us off speaker,” Chloe said.

“Uh, ok, hold on a minute,” Beca said distractedly.

“No not you, Mina,” Chloe said.

“Uh, whatever you have to say to her you can say to me, Chlo.”

Mina waved her off. “It is fine, little mouse. I believe I can handle this.” She picked up the phone and hit the speaker button and put the phone up to her ear. “Yes?”

Beca perked up and listened intently as the last few things were thrown in her bag. She still had to carry the stuffed cat, but she’d gotten the rest of everything in somewhere.

“I assure you, I have to intention of doing so. I am quite…fond of her,” Mina said after a minute’s pause.

Beca hefted her stuff down off the bed and put her back pack on. She checked around the room one last time before she nodded to herself. Everything looked good. She just had to check out and she was ready to leave Copenhagen. She was a little sad at the thought. So many amazing things had happened in such a short amount of time.

“I will keep that in mind. It is good that she has such lovely friends.”

Beca perked up at that. Oh no, they were totally giving Mina the ‘if you hurt her I’ll hurt you’ talk. She groaned. Of course they would. They were such nerds, but they were her nerds all the same. She felt a little bit of warmth spark inside her. Yeah, it was nice to have such good friends.

“I’ll make sure she messages you, then.” “Ja, goodbye.” Mina hung up the phone and handed it to Beca. “Ready to go?” She asked, looking at Beca’s bags.

“Yeah, I’m good. Was that just the talk that I think it was?”

“It was. Your friends are very protective of you. It is nice to see.”

Beca groaned and shook her head. “Sorry you had to go through that.”

Mina waved her off. “I’d go through that a million and more times for you, mouse.” She reached out and drew Beca into a short hug. “But come, we must check out, and I’m quite sure that Pieter will try his own version of the protective friend talk on you while I’m distracted by something or other.”

Beca blanched a bit. She knew Pieter wouldn’t hurt her, but he was just so damn big and muscle-y he could snap her like a twig if he wanted. His protective friend talk was going to be much more effective, she thought.

They both made their way down the lobby quickly enough. DSM was already scattered around in the many chairs in the large space, chatting in small groups happily. Pieter perked up as soon as he saw them cross the lobby towards the desk. Beca swallowed and stepped a little closer to Mina. But Pieter went straight for Mina and only smiled at Beca. She relaxed a little bit. Hopefully whatever talk she was getting would wait until the airport then.

Mina handed over her keycard and spoke to the woman in Danish before turning to Pieter. “Ja?”

“We’re all ready to go and the shuttle called. It will be here on time.”

“Good, good. There were extra seats, yes?”

“There were.” He glanced back at Beca. “Is the little mouse going with us?”

“She is riding to the airport with us, yes.”

“The more the merrier I suppose. Maybe some of our talent will rub off on her.”

“Hey!” Beca stepped forward. “We did win worlds you know.”

He waved it off with a smirk. “One time doesn’t make a trend, troll.”

Mina slapped his arm lightly. “Behave, Pieter, or I will tell her all about—”

“I can tell her about—”

“Yes, well, why don’t we agree to keep the teasing at a minimum, ja? After all I am the little mouse’s girlfriend and therefore it is my job.”

“Girlfriend already.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Mina rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “Yes. Little mouse, what is your room number again.” She reached for Beca’s key card.

“542.”

“Good.” She turned back to the woman at the counter and turned around a second later. “You’re all good to go.”

“Awesome, thanks.”

Mina took her phone out of her pocket. “And with ten minutes to spare. Nice to know you can hurry with the right motivation.” Mina smiled at Beca.

“You two are just so sickeningly cute,” Pieter said, still hovering around them.

“You are just sickening,” Mina retorted.

Pieter laughed and held up his hands. “You know that you love me.”

“Mmm, I believe that’s the only thing that’s kept me from killing you.”

He snorted. “I’ll go watch for the shuttle and text you when it’s here. I trust that you will be able to round up our group without being too distracted by your lady love.”

“I can multitask, or have you forgotten?”

“Yes, yes.” He turned and walked through the doors of the hotel. It was drizzling outside. Beca snorted. It was like the weather had held just for them the past few days.

Mina draped her arm around Beca’s shoulders. Beca looked around the room, but there weren’t any real free seats. It was only ten minutes, though, so it really didn’t matter. Except then Mina was tugging her across the room to the one free seat near them. Beca wasn’t exactly sure what was going on until Mina situated their luggage around the chair, sat down, and then pulled Beca down on her lap as Beca squeaked out her surprise.

Members of DSM looked on with wide eyes, but none of them commented. Beca glanced back to see the challenging look that Mina was giving all of them and then understood why no one was saying anything. Mina was damn scary when she wanted to be.

“So, didn’t exactly take you for a PDA person,” Beca said, turning more into Mina so she could see her face easier.

“PDA?”

“Public display of affection.”

“Ah, well, there are no other free seats, why would we not do this.”

Beca gave her a disbelieving look. “Of course it’s all just practical.”

“Of course.” Mina tried to keep a straight face, but there was a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.

They stayed cuddled together like that until the text from Pieter came that shuttle was there. Beca hopped off of Mina to grab her stuff. Mina stood beside her and looked at the members of DSM before barking out a command.

“DSM!”

“Ja!” The rest of them answered immediately, as if on instinct.

Now that she had all off their attention she gestured to the door and everyone gathered up their stuff quickly. Beca waited for Mina to grab her stuff before they walked together.

“You always get their attention like that?”

Mina shrugged. “When they are scattered or not paying attention. It’s quick and effective, don’t you think?”

“Fair enough.”

They loaded their stuff in the shuttle and found seats right beside each other. Mina wrapped her arm around Beca’s shoulders again and Beca leaned into the contact with a content sigh. After the dreary drizzle, Mina’s warmth felt nice.

“It feels weird to be leaving,” Beca said.

“It does, but there are even better things to come.”

“Yeah, I think that’s the only thing that’s making this bearable.” She leaned into Mina more.

Mina hummed but said nothing more, watching the streets pass with eyes open, but not taking anything in. Beca kissed her throat gently, right over one of the hickeys she’d left last night. Mina shivered and looked down at her.

“Should I change your name to naughty mouse?”

“In certain situations, probably.” She smirked.

Mina rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I suppose. But this isn’t one of those situations.” She leaned closer to Beca. “And my neck is very, _very_ sensitive, mouse, so tread lightly.”

Beca filed that away for later, but settled back into Mina’s side and behaved herself for the rest of the ride.

They pulled up to the terminal and Beca was super glad that they both were flying out of the same one. She helped unload everyone’s stuff while Mina went about talking to the shuttle service, paying the man for his time. The members of DSM looked her over more openly now that Mina wasn’t right by her side, but they said nothing more than thanking her for unloading their stuff.

Mina returned after a few minutes, taking the handle of her luggage from Beca, smiling. “What airline are you flying out on?”

“Um, Swiss Air,” Beca said, scrambling around for the information for a second. “Yeah, Swiss Air.”

“Ah good, we’ll be at the same gate then. I’m flying out on Lufthansa, and they own Swiss Air, so we will get a little more time together, mouse.”

Beca smiled at that. “Awesome.”

They walked into the airport and went their separate ways to check in. Beca hoped that she actually could check in this early. She’d never been more than the requisite two or three hours early before. At least she had a lot of time for the stupid check in questions.

When she was all done she exited the line, sans her huge suitcase, which was great. Except then she looked up and found Pieter waiting for her. And now was totally going to be the talk she’d been waiting for earlier. With Mina halfway down the row of airlines and unable to rescue her. Dude was good, she had to give it to him.

“Hi,” she said walking up to him.

“Troll,” he said back.

They stood there for a few seconds just looking at each other. “Look, I know what’s about to happen, you’re going to go all protective over Mina and be like ‘if you hurt her I hurt you’ and everything and that’s great and I’m glad she has such a good friend and all, but you’re sort of scary and if we could not, it’d be awesome. I really don’t have any plans to hurt her or anything. I really like her, which after like a day is probably stupid, but it’s absolutely true so.” Beca shrugged. “I’m not going to do anything to fuck it up just because it happened quickly. Life’s like that sometimes. And really who would want to fuck up anything with someone who looks like Mina and I’m going to stop talking now before I stick my foot in my mouth.”

Pieter smiled. “I think you’ll be good for her, but yes, the hurting thing does apply. I don’t care if you’re in LA and I’ll still be in Berlin, planes are a thing.”

“Noted, but I’m pretty sure she can take care of herself.”

“She shouldn’t have to.” He clapped her on the shoulder. “But I think you already know this, yes?”

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly.

“Good, come on then, after getting everyone through the check-in line she’s going to need someone to hold her back from executing someone and we still have security to get through.”

“Oh I see, I get to be the sacrificial lamb for you now.”

“You are the girlfriend.”

“Yeah,” Beca sighed, happily. “I am, but I don’t promise results.”

Pieter laughed and guided them back towards the Lufthansa check in counter. The last members of DSM were still checking in and Mina was off to the side with her arms crossed on her chest, frown on her face. Beca went over and nudged her gently in the side with her shoulder.

“I’m all set.”

“Good.” Mina unfolded her arms to set one across Beca’s shoulders once more. She relaxed just slightly against Beca, still watching her team. “You would think they would be used to this and be more prepared as much as we travel,” Mina sighed.

Beca laughed. “Yeah, well, at least you don’t have to wrangle the Bellas. It’ll be ten times more chaotic when they’re here.”

“Mmm, yes I don’t think that I would like that. Too much disorder, your friends.”

“You have no idea.”

The rest of DSM got through check in quickly and they walked to security. Where there was a huge line of course. Beca groaned and leaned into Mina’s side.

“Airport security sucks.”

“I don’t think anyone would disagree, little mouse.”

“If they did, they should have their head checked.”

Mina laughed and started to run her fingers through the ends of Beca’s hair. “Yes, well, perhaps.”

They made their way slowly forward, only separating once they reached the front of the line. Beca gave her passport and ticket to the security officer who looked up at her for half a second before marking on the boarding pass and handing it back to her. She walked to the x-ray machine, threw her carryon up, and then dragged her laptop out and shoved her backpack through. She shucked off her shoes, looking over at Mina in the process and making a face. The other woman rolled her eyes and calming shed her jacket, putting it in a bin and shoving it through.

By the time Beca got through to the other side of security and got her stuff back on there was only twenty minutes to go before boarding started for Mina’s plane. Lead lined her stomach. She was glad that she had gotten to spend this extra time with Mina, but an airport wasn’t exactly the most romantic, or relaxing place in the world. And three months would start from the time she stepped foot on that plane. Beca definitely didn’t want that to happen just yet, not when everything was so new and exciting.

Mina came up beside her. “Our gate isn’t far, come.” She started walking slowly so Beca didn’t have to jog to catch up.

“What are you going to do when you get back to Berlin?” Beca asked as they walked.

“Visit with family, pack, visit with friends, nothing particularly exciting. I’ll still be leading DSM officially until the new school year begins so there will be practices as well. But mostly it will be getting ready to come to the US and making sure every t is crossed and i dotted to make sure I won’t get in trouble with your government.”

“Yeah, we get a little cranky about stuff like that.” Beca shrugged and shook her head. “There are better things to freak about, but no one really sees that so, congrats you get to deal with it.”

“Pft, thank you for that, mouse.” They stopped in front of their gate. It was crowded with people standing around waiting for the flight attendants to call for boarding to start. DSM stood off to the side in their own big group, looking a bit menacing in all black.

Mina plucked Beca’s phone from her pocket. Beca didn’t really even react this time, she just stood up a bit more to see what in the world Mina was doing. She unlocked it easily and went straight for snapchat.

“Good, I’m glad you have this.” Mina quickly added herself to Beca’s list and then pulled out her phone to do the same. She slipped both devices back into their respective pockets. “A picture is worth a thousand words, ja?”

“Ja.” Beca stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Mina. “And I can’t wait to get pictures of you. You have skype, right?”

“I do.”

“Good, because we totally have to skype too.”

“Of course, little mouse.”

Beca frowned. “The time zones are going to be hella annoying for that though. Why do you live in Germany again?”

“Because I’m German?” Mina chuckled.

Beca sighed and squeezed Mina to her more. “Right, smartass.”

“I think if I wasn’t a smartass you wouldn’t be nearly so attracted to me.”

Beca pulled back and looked up at Mina. “Actually, you’re right.” She threw her hands out in a ‘what can you do’ gestured before wrapping them around Mina again.

The flight attendant spoke over the speaker, calling for first class passengers. Mina put her head on top of Beca’s and hugged her back just as tightly, their time getting shorter and shorter.

“Three months isn’t so long,” Beca said into Mina’s shoulder. “So why right now does it feel like an eternity and a half.”

“Because missing someone is like that, especially someone you love.”

Beca noticed the slip, but she didn’t freeze up like she thought she would. She had flinched for a good while when Jesse had told her he loved her even after they’d been together for a while. It had taken a while to believe it was real. But as with everything so far, Mina was different.

“Yeah, I guess.”

The flight attendant called for the frequent flyer card holders.

Mina pulled back just enough to lean down and kiss Beca for a long moment. “Ich liebe dich, kleine maus,” She whispered into Beca’s ear.

“I love you, too,” Beca said without thinking, and even without thought she knew it was true. Everything about this was fast, everything about this should scare her, but it was the opposite. She felt safe here in Mina’s arms in a way that she hadn’t felt before. And maybe she would freak out later, though she doubted it, but for now everything was ok except for the fact that in a minute Mina would be getting on a plane and leaving for three months.

“Zone one passengers can now board.”

All of DSM gathered up their things and headed for the doorway to the plane. Mina pulled away with a sad smile. She cupped Beca’s face for a second before letting her hand drop and grabbing her luggage.

“I believe that is my call.”

“Text me and let me know that you get home ok, alright?”

“Of course, if you do the same.”

Beca laughed. “I will, but that’ll be a while from now.”

“I don’t care, as long as I know you’re safe.”

Beca nodded. “Three months?”

“Three months. I will see you then, mouse.”

“See you.”

And with one last sad smile Mina turned and walked towards the door, handing her boarding pass to the flight attendant, and then she was gone from sight. Beca bit her lip and blinked her eyes hard to drive back tears. She wasn’t an emotional crier damn it and she wasn’t about to start.

Her phone vibrated and she looked down to see a snapchat from Mina. It was a selfie with the words miss you already over it. She screen shotted it quickly and smiled. She was glad she wasn’t the only one. She quickly took a picture of herself, and sent it with caption ‘me too.’ It wasn’t the best picture of her, but fuck it.

Her phone started to ring in her hand. Beca looked down at it for a second before it finally caught up and displayed Chloe’s name.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?” Chloe asked.

“At the airport?”

“I know that! I meant where are you in the airport?”

“Uh, gate B6?”

“Stay right there,” Chloe said right before the line went dead.

Beca looked at her phone strangely for a minute. Uh, ok that was weird.

But then she was being tackled by Bellas a second later and Beca totally understood.

“Whoa, guys hey, what are you doing here so early?” Beca asked, ducking out of the group hug with practiced ease.

Chloe stepped forward. “We figured you’d probably need distraction after saying goodbye to Mina and we didn’t have anything else planned so we came.”

“And now we’re going to burn this place up Bella style!” Fat Amy said, busting out one of her awkward dance moves.

“And how are we going to do that?” Beca asked, smile starting to form on her face.

“Shopping, duh. Come on, there was a really great store back there that we passed on the way in.” Fat Amy was off, with the rest of the Bellas behind.

Beca shook her head, feeling like she just got hit with a small tornado. She started after them when her phone vibrated again. She opened another message from Mina, this one a picture of her and Pieter. Pieter was making a ridiculous face and Mina was clearly exasperated. “On the plane with this dummkopf.” Another one came a second later, this one a picture out the planes small window. “Will text you when we land.”

Beca sighed. Three months. It was going to be the longest wait of her life, but the one that was the most worth it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> German Translations:  
> (there are a lot sort of. oops)  
> Mina, bist du da drin? -Mina, are you in there  
> Ja, warte eine sekunde!- Yes, hold on I’ll be there in a second  
> Was ist es?-what is it  
> Du bist nicht ans Telefon gegangen und wir müssen dringend los zum Flughafen.-You didn’t answer your phone and we need to leave for the airport soon.  
> Ja, ich war beschäftigt. Hol den Rest der Gruppe, ich versuche in der Zeit ein Shuttel zu buchen.”-Yes, I was busy. Go get the rest of the group and I’ll be down in time to catch our shuttle.


End file.
